Moments of Love
by SihaKatieKrios
Summary: Top Cerberus operative Miranda Chloe Lawson was supposed to be Commander Russell Patrick Shepard's handler and link with the Illusive Man, nothing more. Falling in love with him definitely wasn't part of the plan. Eventual Shep/Miri smuff!
1. Origins

**Author's Notes: Well, this is my first ever fanfic, so please give me lots of constructive criticism. I originally thought about doing one about the sexiest badass in Mass Effect, Thane Krios, but since there are already so many fics out there detailing his tear-jerking romance with femShep, I decided to do one about the most misunderstood, most maligned and sexiest female badass ingame, Miranda Lawson, and her growing relationship with Russell Patrick Shepard, who is based on Patrick Jane from the Mentalist. As a matter of fact, Russell looks exactly like Patrick Jane, and instead of boring old MeerShep's voice, he has the voice of, well, Patrick Jane. Heck, Russell even behaves like Patrick Jane. This will be told through Miranda's POV, and as far as I know, it's the first ever fic to do so. Anyways, on with the story!**

I sprinted through the drab, gray corridors with my X4 Shuriken in my hands as I headed for the shuttle bay and I took out a hacked mech with two 3-round bursts into its metallic 'chest' without breaking stride. I, Miranda Chloe Lawson (yes that _is _my real name. My boss, the Illusive Man, had told me very vaguely about how he was setting a trap for my father and his many informants by using my real name, and it had worked wonders as I saw reports on how one or a few of my father's informants had ended up dead one way or the other at least thrice a week.), had barely managed to escape from one of the security stations.

All thanks to one greedy, traitorous bastard. Dr Wilson had somehow hacked the mechs to try and kill me and Russell Patrick Shepard, my 'project' for 2 years and 11 days.

Wilson had pretended to be wounded, but Russell had called him a 'big fat liar' but still let the bloody traitor run around with him and Jacob as he needed every 'ally' he could get on the station, as he eloquently put it. I had seen and heard everything through one of the holos the monitoring station had of the camera and mic monitoring the security room, where Wilson hacked those mechs, and I caught him red-handed. Of course, I was seething with rage at the Commander's stupidity, but what use was there railing at it when the idiot couldn't even hear or see me?

I, Miranda Chloe Lawson, was one of the top operatives in Cerberus, but unlike the others, I was leading research projects, 'special projects' like this Lazarus project that raised Shepard from the dead, and I dabbled as an informant. No glorious frontline ops like blowing politicians brains out with an X97 Viper from a kilometer away because they decided to pick a fight with Cerberus, or planting bombs under some businessman's chair because he stole a few hundred million credits from Cerberus' coffers. Actually, 'dabbling' wouldn't be an accurate description of my information career as I was actually considered a fully fledged info broker, and had reliable informants in even the most remote places in the galaxy. Honestly speaking, I was just average with a gun, but my biotics were what made me lethal.

Before that, I was one of the 6 daughters of Brendan Lawson, one of the richest men on earth, and the first daughter he kept. I tried my best to please the insatiable bastard and follow his draconian rules for the first 12 years of my life, but eventually gave up and rebelled until I was 17, and ran away with Oriana Adele Lawson, now Oriana Adele Bunting, my younger sister a few months after my 17th birthday. I then joined Cerberus, and as they say, the rest is history.

"I swear to God, if I see that cunt Wilson, I'm going to kill him…"I half panted, half growled as I reached the shuttle bay, and I saw through the windows that the Commander, Jacob and Wilson were approaching the shuttle bay as they took out mechs while advancing. I decided to stand right in front of the door and lock it so that when that bastard Wilson came through, the first and last things he saw would be me, my pissed expression, and the muzzle flash from my machine pistol as I ended his miserable little existence with a triple tap to the head. Suddenly, my vengeful, violent fantasies of how I was going to exact revenge on Wilson were interrupted by the door swooshing open and Wilson's 'oh shit' expression.

"Miranda! But you were-"I cut him off with a triple tap to his overly-oily forehead as my face contorted with rage. "Dead?"I snarled at his dead body on the floor as Russell spoke up.

"Whoa! Is that how you say hello where you come from?"The sandy haired Commander wise-arsed as I looked into his piercing blue eyes. "Actually, I come from England, and we just say 'hi' over there."I snarked back as he made a funny 'hmm' face. If the idiot wanted to play sarcastic, I could damn well play along.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, according to Oscar Wilde. However, you seem to be fully aware of that don't you?"He grinned at me as I stiffened at the insult. So much for thanking me for wasting 2 years of my youth resurrecting you, you arsehole.

"Okay, can we get back to what's going on here? Miranda, what the hell did you shoot Wilson for? What the hell did you do?"Jacob sighed in exasperation as I looked at him coolly. "My job. Wilson betrayed us all."

"I knew he was lying. The angle on his gunshot wound was unnatural. Also, his eyes gave him away. Do any of you happen to have any tea?"Russell asked as he holstered his S3 Predator as Jacob looked at him funny and I stared at him as if though he was nuts. Well, he probably was anyways.

"Not anymore. Come on, my boss wants to speak to you."I told Russell as he looked me in the eyes. "You mean the Illusive Man? I know you work for Cerberus."He smiled as I sighed and looked at Jacob. The man was so naïve and so straight-laced I could probably tie my high-heeled boots with him. "Ah Jacob, I should've known that you'd tell him."I said in a condescending tone as Jacob's posture stiffened.

"Lying to the commander's not the way to get him to join our cause."He replied somewhat robotically as I sighed again. Like I said, really naïve. "Well since we're getting everything out in the open, is there anything else you'd like to know commander?"I said, barely masking my exasperation.

"Well…how'd you resurrect me in just 2 years?"Russell asked, clearly in disbelief that he'd actually died and came back to life, as clichéd as it was. Honestly speaking, if someone told me that someone could be brought back from the dead in 2 years, I would've packed the person off to the nearest mental asylum. Now? Maybe not immediately.

"We resurrected you with the most advanced medtech available, along with some cybernetics and some tissue cloning. Also, we…gave you some upgrades."I replied as he looked at his faintly glowing scars, a side effect of the cybernetics. "Okay…I've heard something about cybernetic implants degenerating over time…so…"He began before I cut him off.

"Don't worry, these are top-of-the line ones that don't degenerate. It would be quite stupid to spend 4 billion credits on someone who'll eventually die thanks to degenerative cybernetics."I replied, trying to allay his fears before Jacob piped up.

"Don't worry Shepard; the Illusive Man's got some kind of long term plan for you, which is why he invested 4 billion in you."The black officer said as Russell turned back to me. "What kind of plan?"He asked me as I shrugged. I honestly didn't know what the Illusive Man had planned for Shepard, because he didn't tell anyone. "I haven't a clue. Maybe you should ask the Illusive Man when you meet him."I answered honestly as Russell scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I've had enough of this station to last a lifetime. Let's go, shall we?"Russell asked as he began walking towards me, not taking his eyes off mine. "Sure. Actually in your case, it would be two lifetimes."I said over my shoulder casually as I led the way to the Kodiak as Jacob and Russell snickered. "Oh the sarcasm."The Commander chuckled as we got onboard.

Halfway through the half-hour shuttle ride to Minuteman, I couldn't stand the silence and Russell staring at my breasts while acting nonchalant anymore and I broke out a datapad. Hey, I _know_ for a fact that I'm incredibly beautiful and irresistibly attractive, with what many would consider a perfect face, firm, large and gravity-defying D-cup breasts that would make any other woman jealous, lush black hair, beautiful cerulean eyes, and my well-toned, tight and large-without-being-too-large arse, and I _know_ that horny boys will be horny boys (honestly, which boy isn't?), but the stares I get still irritate me at times. At other times, I don't mind. Until they try to grope me, after which I give them a free ticket to the hospital.

"Okay commander, we need to run some tests to determine if the Lazarus project was a success."I spoke up as Russell's blue eyes momentarily flickered from my tits to my eyes for a scant few seconds before returning to my assets. "C'mon Miranda, more tests? He took those mechs out without a problem."Jacob said as I inhaled sharply. "It's been two years since the attack. The Illusive Man needs to know that Shepard's personality and memories are intact. Ask the questions."I said wearily as I handed Jacob the datapad.

Before I go any further, here's some information about the idiot still staring at my breasts. I honestly wondered why the Illusive Man made me and other high level; pretty female operatives like me wear this bloody catsuit instead of just giving us a damn uniform that didn't look at home in some BDSM sex club on Omega. I, along with other female colleagues sharing my misfortune, suspected the Illusive Man of sexual motives, but of course, we had no actual proof.

Commander Russell Patrick Shepard was born to Commodore Benjamin Darren Shepard (now retired), and Lieutenant (now Commodore) Hannah Juliet Shepard in 2154. As Commodore Hannah Shepard was an engineering specialist, she'd been exposed to a lot of eezo radiation from the drive core of the ships she served on and it went on for 4 months before she was taken off duty because she discovered she was pregnant, and was thus reassigned. However, her fetus was already irreversibly exposed, and thus Russell was born with very powerful biotic abilities.

In fact, the 2183 list of the most powerful human biotics kept by the Alliance Parliamentary Subcommittee for Transhuman Studies ranked Russell as #3. #1 had died from complications arising from eezo exposure in '84; #2 went insane from her L2 implant, effectively leaving Russell as the most powerful human biotic. Frustratingly enough, I was #12 on that list. Guess money really can't buy you everything.

He grew up on the ships his parents served on, and when he was 18, he enlisted. However, instead of going to the 109th Special Tactics Regiment, better known as the Adepts (which accepted only the strongest biotics and was an 'invite only' regiment), he opted to join the 3rd Division's sniper company (the best in the entire Alliance, I was told) and underwent the standard Alliance Marine Sniper Instruction Course before undergoing further training under the Alliance Future Force Sniper Training, better known as the 'Top Sniper' program and excelled with record marksmanship points that went unbroken from 2173 to 2182.

He graduated in 2175 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade (J.G.), and almost immediately, he was thrust into the thick of the Skyllian Blitz on Elysium, where he became the bloody hero he is. According to official tallies and reports, Lieutenant (J.G.) Russell Shepard held one of the larger town squares in the capital singlehandedly with no reinforcements till 4 hours later. He was on shore leave at that time, but managed to get an X97 Viper in addition to his concealed carry S3 Predator, and he grabbed a whole lot of ammo, found himself a crow's nest in a church bell tower, and practically camped there for the 4 hours, killing approximately 308 batarian hostiles, most with headshots.

"Alright Shepard, records show you were a spacer kid with a strong biotic talent and you enlisted at 18. Soon after you graduated, you served in the Blitz and won the Star of Terra for fighting batarians. You remember that?"Jacob asked as Russell _finally _looked away from my breasts and at Jacob. "Of course I do. I lost lots of friends that day. Bullets whistling by my head going 'whizz' and all those bullets coming towards me isn't very forgettable."He smiled at both me and Jacob before making more ridiculous noises and equally ridiculous hand gestures to mimic the bullets that were poured his way. "However you put it, it was pretty damn impressive. I had friends who were there. Satisfied Miranda?"Jacob asked, irritated as I ignored his tone.

"Almost. Let's try something more recent. Virmire, where you had to leave one of your squad behind to die."I said before Jacob continued. "However, you managed to save both Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. How did you do it?"Jacob asked, slightly in awe of the handsome man sitting across us. Wait, what the hell did I just think about that handsome pervert? Oh Christ. Not good Miranda, not good.

"Well, I took Liara and Garrus with me to rescue Ashley and the salarians while Wrex and Tali went for Kaidan. However, Wrex actually ended up going for both Kaidan _and _Tali, as she ended up just as badly wounded as Kaidan."Russell chuckled at the memory as I continued. "Your memory seems solid. There are other tests we really should run-" "Come on Miranda, enough with the quizzes. The memories are there, and I can vouch for his combat skills personally."Jacob interrupted me as a barely contained my irritation at being undermined by Jacob, and Russell seemed to notice this as he gave me a raised eyebrow and said, "Miranda honey, learn to relax a bit. You're really job-focused, and you tend to neglect others, but most of all, you neglect yourself."The cheeky fucker smiled. He actually called me _honey_. This…_arsehole_ was going to be the death of me.

"I suppose you're right. We'll have to hope the Illusive Man accepts our little field test as evidence enough."I sighed, and for the last 5 minutes, Russell and Jacob engaged in some conversation about their old war stories. Once we disembarked, I got a message from the Illusive Man that he wanted to see Shepard ASAP, but before I could tell Shepard about it, he spoke up.

"Damn I'm starving. Which way to the mess hall?"He smiled nonchalantly at him as I fought down the urge to slap that irritating smirk off his face. The galaxy was at stake and he was _hungry_. "Shepard, you have to go see my boss now-" "Sorry Miranda, but I've been out for two years. I mean, I haven't eaten in two years, so of course I'd be hungry."Russell said, still smiling that idiotic smile of his.

"Sure commander. Follow me."Jacob spoke up and led Shepard to the mess, much to my chagrin. "Jacob!"I hissed as Jacob shrugged. "What? I mean, I'm hungry too."He said before he walked off with the _moron _I spent two years of my youth on, leaving me standing there shaking my head. "Come on, you're hungry too. I know it."Russell winked as I _really, _really had to fight the urge to just biotically slam him into a wall and jump on him and slap some sense into him. The cheeky bastard actually had the nerve to _wink _at me!

Five minutes later found both Jacob and Shepard munching away on bacon cheeseburgers as they joked about the crazy stuff they did in the Alliance, and me listlessly but ravenously chewing at my chicken salad sandwich. Yes, Russell finally got his beloved tea as well. "See? I knew you were hungry."Russell chuckled through a mouthful of burger as I glared at him, which made his smile grow even wider. Seriously, did I just waste _two bloody years_ of my youth resurrecting the supposed 'Savior of the Galaxy', who was nothing more than an overconfident, perverted and sickening idiot? I really wanted a refund of those two years.

Finally (thank God), Russell finished his meal and went down to get briefed by the Illusive Man while I went to work on one of the terminals. "Damn, he's a great dude, isn't he?"Jacob grinned at me as he leaned on my console as I sat upright in my chair. "Great? He's going to be the death of me! He couldn't even take his eyes off my breasts throughout the entire shuttle ride, and- I really don't see how an arsehole like him could be the Savior of the Galaxy."I huffed as I refocused on my work. I read all the reports on Shepard before he died, and he preferred to solve and actually solved more problems with words instead of bullets. However, I _really _could not see how the bloody hell it's possible, especially if Russell is this much of a douchebag.

"Hey, you can't blame him for not taking his eyes off of your tits Miranda…I mean, uh, never mind."Jacob stammered when I fixed him with a death glare. Ex or not, _nobody_ talks to me like that when I'm working. Or any time when I'm in public, for that matter. Suddenly, he found the railing furthest from me to be really interesting and went to lean over it and stargaze, which was good for him and even better for me, as I was undistracted from my work.

However, my workaholic ecstasy was short-lived as _he_ came back up _whistling a jaunty tune_. How anyone could be this happy, I had no idea. Maybe all the drugs Wilson had pumped into him during Lazarus had irreversibly made him higher than an orbital platform. "Whoa, still working? You really need to take a break. So why don't you tell me about yourself and the Lazarus project? Great to know about the project from its leader."He asked. Fine, whatever gets you off my back, you idiot.

"I wasn't really the leader of the project. If I was, we would've done things differently."I said bluntly. "Like what?" "For starters, I would've implanted you with a control chip of some kind. But my boss wouldn't allow it. He thought it would affect your personality, alter your character somehow." "Well, I'm glad you weren't in charge. I'd hate to have something like that in my brain. Now about yourself."Russell smiled.

"Worried about my qualifications? Don't worry, I can crush a mech's head with my biotics or shoot its head off. Take your pick."I stated matter-of-factly before he continued. "I can tell you're obviously not from the Alliance like Jacob." "Correct. The Illusive Man recognized my potential and recruited me at a young age."I replied before he asked me how old I was when I joined. "Old enough to know that this was what I wanted."I deflected the question as he looked deep into my eyes, which unnerved me slightly.

"Great way to avoid a question…you're hiding something. Aha! You were technically underage when you joined Cerberus."He smiled, wagging a finger at me as I refused to be baited. "Anyways, I was trying to get to know you as a person. Didn't really want a resume."Russell smiled as I narrowed my eyes. "I'm not looking for a friend Shepard. Stay focused on the mission. Also, I'm eager to see if you can live up the Illusive Man's expectations."I retorted, trying to get back to my work but he interrupted me. "Are you naturally always this bitchy, or did you not get good coffee this morning?"He joked as I stiffened.

"Meow meow meow. I have the utmost respect for your abilities Shepard. It's your motivations that concern me."I snarked as he guffawed. "Ah Miranda, your sarcasm is amazing. However, it's a coping mechanism for you, just like your work. You're hiding from something, or someone. You're afraid that people will discover the real you and that they will hate what they see. Judging by your general disdain for superiors and the fact that you always snap at everyone and anyone, someone your senior to you hurt you badly, repeatedly when you were a kid."Before the arsehole could continue, I cut him off.

"Shepard, you're delusional. I know you have a Masters in Psychology from the Jon Grissom Academy, but that doesn't give you a right to slander me."I retorted, trying my best to keep my cool and not to let him know how accurate his entire statement was. "Uh-uh, liar liar pants on fire! I can tell that you have some huge emotional baggage. In fact, you had mommy issues. Wait, sorry I got it wrong. You had daddy issues. You were abused by your father as a child, and now you're hiding from him and memories of his abuse-" "That's enough!"I snarled loudly, bolting from my chair as this _fucker_ pushed all my buttons, attracting the attention of Jacob.

"Damn Miranda, calm down."He soothed as I glared at Shepard, who had his hands raised in front of his chest and that _goddamn smirk_ of his on his face. "Okay, okay, I understand. Great talking to you. Really, you should let it all out. It helps."He said with a silly expression on his face as he backed off, followed by Jacob. "Shit man, how'd you get Miranda this pissed? I've known her for 5 years now, and I've _never_ seen her this angry before."I heard Jacob say to Russell as they leant over the railing as they chatted again. Well, _nobody _had _ever _been able to tell all those things about me before, much less in just one conversation. The worst part was, Russell was totally accurate in his judgment of me.

Even though it was close to 18 years since I'd escaped from my egomaniacal father who wanted to create a new breed of 'superhumans' that could rival and surpass every other alien race in every aspect in the interest of 'protecting humanity's pride and interests', he still overshadowed my life like some bloody stain I couldn't get rid of. Just 6 years ago, Oriana was moved from Shanxi to Illium as that father of mine almost kidnapped her, but fortunately, the Illusive Man managed to save Oriana.

Suddenly, a loud bark of laughter from Jacob made me snap my gaze from the screen to him. "Damn you're good!"My ex chuckled as Russell held a poker card in front of Jacob. "So you want the ace of spades? No problem?"The sandy-haired commander grinned as he coughed and procured a card from his mouth as Jacob's eyes widened in awe. "Hot damn Shepard, you're good!"He boomed as Shepard grinned. Oh, boys and their magic tricks. Unbelievable.

"Shepard, Jacob, get armored up. We're going to Freedom's Progress now."I ordered as I stood up and headed for the armory, and both Shepard and Jacob followed me, and I swear that Russell's eyes were glued to my arse as we walked through the corridor to the armory. Just as we reached and I was about to key in the pass code, Russell stopped me.

"Wait. I can do this. As a matter of fact, I can get it out of you, Miss Lawson, in just a minute."He grinned as I rolled my eyes. "Not a chance in hell."I replied smugly, very sure that he was unable to do it as he stared into my eyes once more for about half a minute. "Miranda, you haven't seen anything yet."He said as he tapped me on my shoulder twice.

Suddenly, I was lying on a gingham mat in some verdant green pasture somewhere, and Oriana was lying next to me, and both of us had a glass of red wine each in our hands. Suddenly, Oriana crawled atop me and French kissed me. There was nothing even remotely sisterly about the kiss, it was just pure, unbridled lust. To my horror, I actually began to kiss my younger sister back with equal passion as our tongues massaged each other's as I heard Russell's voice in the background. "Alright, thank you."He grinned, and suddenly I was staring at Russell and his idiotic grin, Jacob with an awed expression on his face and an open armory door.

"What the hell-"I began, and suddenly realized that my fingers were on my lips and I quickly whipped them away. "Well Miranda, looks like I win."The commander smiled as Jacob spoke. "Damn, how'd you do that? Why's her face so red?"The ex-lieutenant asked as Russell looked into my eyes. "Technique, my dear Jacob. Technique. As for her face…she dreamt that she was kissing someone passionately when I hypnotized her. In fact, I think it might be you, Jacob. I can tell that you two were an item, but broke up on mutual agreement."The sandy-haired sniper grinned as Jacob blushed a little and my blush got even deeper.

"No! I wasn't dreaming about him!"I protested as Russell looked thoughtful. "Your reaction was a mix of horror, disgust but there was also a lot of lust. Hmm…oh no! Oh no!"Russell guffawed as I stood there baffled. "No what? What do you think I was dreaming about?"I asked before I could stop myself. "Your dad! I never took you for having an Electra complex!"He laughed as Jacob's jaw dropped. "_No! Hell fucking no!_"I practically screamed in horror as he just continued laughing, the idiot. "Come on Jacob, let's get our armor and guns, and leave Miss Lawson to sort herself out."Russell chuckled as he led Jacob into the armory as I ran for the bathroom, where I practically drowned myself while washing my face.

How could that pervert think that _I, _of all people, would harbor unfulfilled _lust_ for _my father_, who had seen me as nothing more than tool and had abused me throughout my childhood? "No. No. He's just crazy Miranda. He's absolutely off the fucking chain."I whispered to myself. Well, at least Russell got something wrong, and didn't realize I had a sister. I dried my face before I headed to the armory, and from within I heard Jacob's hooting and Russell's guffaws of laughter. The minute I stepped in there, I _swear_ I was going to kill Shepard, then myself.

The bloody moron was juggling _five_ grenades_._ Yes, Commander Russell Patrick Shepard was juggling _five live grenades_. "_Stop! Stop juggling those grenades and get out!_"I screamed in outrage as both Russell and Jacob turned to me, Russell with and innocent smile and Jacob with a guilty one. "Hey Miranda, it's ok. He's good at this."Jacob tried to assure me, but I wasn't having _any _of it. "I don't care! This is completely irresponsible behavior!"I ranted as Russell looked at me. "Don't worry Miranda, I won't drop the grenades-oops, I just did. Shit."He stated apologetically as his eyes widened. "Don't worry…it's…uh…it isn't active."He tried to reassure me and Jacob, who now looked as horrified as I did.

As Russell and Jacob were already armed and armored up, I shoved them out of the armory while screaming "Out! Out this very second!" Once that was done, I locked the door, stripping to my lingerie before I fitted myself into my custom made armor set, which resembled Shepard's N7 armor but instead of black, it was all white with pink stripes and had a small Cerberus logo on the left collarbone plate.

The Commander had opted for an Umbra Visor while I went with a Sentry Interface, and he was wearing an Aegis Vest while I had a custom made Shield Harness on (sometimes, I wish my breasts and arse were smaller just so they didn't have to take my bust and butt measurements just to make armor for me), he had Kestrel Power Packs on while I had Life Support Webbings. Also, he had Stabilization Gauntlets on while I went for Heavy Damping ones, and finally, he chose Amplifier Plates, which was also my choice. Jacob had just gone with a Capacitor Helmet with his Cerberus Assault Armor, saying that he hated the helmet that came with the Assault Armor.

I then picked the Collector Assault Rifle, a relatively new and untested piece of weaponry to enter Cerberus' inventory, an X12 Locust, a S5 Phalanx, also a relatively new gun, and finally an Arc Projector completed my loadout, along with 3 grenades. I then stormed out of the Armory, still incredibly angry with the moron I was now going to take orders from. The minute I got to the shuttle bay, guess what the Savior of the Galaxy was doing?

That's right, juggling the 5 grenades he'd taken out of the armory. _Again._ And all Jacob was doing was sipping on a cup of coffee as he enjoyed the show, which I ended when I snatched all of Shepard's grenades away, earning a whipped puppy look from him as I glared at him while we boarded the shuttle.

If there's a higher power out there, please, I beg you, put me out of my misery already. I'd rather die than follow this moron I wasted 2 years of my youth on. In fact, I want a full refund of those 2 years.

**A/N: Oh boy…will Miranda ever learn to like Shepard? She really hates his guts…anyway, next up is Freedom's Progress, so do stay tuned. Also, pleasepleaseplease review! I'm a total whore for feedback, so please satisfy me. ;) I hope you enjoyed it, and will continue to keep reading. See you soon, and review please! Did I mention that I'm a review whore? XD**


	2. All Aboard

**Author's Notes: The second chapter of my fanfic detailing the growing relationship between Shepard and Miranda! Thanks for the mostly positive feedback, and thanks for the 9 reviews that one dubious… (?) in the last chapter. Anyways, one of you has said that Miranda was OOC because she blew up when Shepard was juggling grenades. Well, I have **_**no **_**idea how that's OOC, because he was juggling live grenades in an armory full of ordinance. On a space station. Even Captain Price (hint hint wink wink ;)) would've gone ballistic. Also, one of you have pointed out that the Collector Assault Rifle (or the CAR, as I call it) is obtained after Horizon. Actually, that would be the Collector Beam…thingy. I find it ridiculous that Cerberus is a well funded organization, yet they can't even give Shep and his team more guns than the crappy ones we got stuck with at the beginning ingame, so I just wrote it that most weapons are already available. Anyways, enjoy the next chapter!**

Finally after much joking and banter between Commander Russell Patrick Shepard and (former) Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, we _finally _landed on Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. In fact, I was more than glad to be out of the Kodiak as I _knew _that Russell was snidely poking fun at me the whole time, but I chose to just bottle it all up and keep quiet about it.

"Here we are. Stay sharp, and look for survivors no matter how unlikely."Russell ordered crisply, his demeanor doing a drastic 180 from jovial to dead serious in a split second. Maybe he was as great a commander as everyone said he was, but he still had quite a lot to prove to me to convince me that I hadn't invested 2 years of my life in him for nothing.

Both Jacob and I nodded as he shouldered his Collector Assault Rifle at the ready and headed through the first door as we followed him. "Looks like everyone just got up and left right in the middle of dinner."Jacob muttered, his Revenant still at the ready as the three of us took in the room filled with half-eaten dinners.

"Hmm…they must've run off to the bunker in the middle of dinner."Russell mused as we exited the habitation module to the main colony proper.

I looked around me, and there were absolutely no signs of a battle or any sign of resistance despite the fact that the colony was guarded and was attacked. "Strange. No bodies, no structural damage, no signs of battle."I pondered, sweeping my own Collector Assault Rifle across the wide open courtyard as we walked to a district door, which was used in every colony to divide different districts of the colony. The theory was that they could seal off the rest of the colony from the district(s) that were under attack like one of the old ships back on Earth a hundred years ago. Fat load of good it did the colonists of Freedom's Progress and the other colonies.

Suddenly, Russell grinned and went "Yeah, baby!" as he ambled over to a pile of junk and activated his omnitool. "Shepard, what are you doing?"I asked him as he waved his active omnitool over the pile.

"I'm gathering important resources Miranda honey."He grinned as I sucked in a huge lungful of air as I calmed myself down. He called me _honey_. _Again_. I was just tempted to slap him on the face and growl at him not to call me honey anymore, but that would be completely unprofessional. So I stayed silent once more and chose to just glare at him, which had absolutely zero effect. He had a_ really_ thick skull, I can tell you that.

Finally, he was done scavenging the pile of mechanical junk, and we headed through the door. We were unexpectedly greeted by some unwelcome company though, and that took the form of three LOKI mechs and two FENRIS dog mechs. "Contact!"I yelled as I crashed into cover behind a box right next to Russell, who had popped up and hit one mech with a heavy overload pulse (which was the only tech attack he could perform besides shooting a plasma jet at someone from his omnitool, known as an incinerate, and his tactical cloak) as I did likewise, the combination of both our heavy overload pulses blowing up the mech and its nearest companion.

In the meantime, Jacob had pulled one FENRIS towards the deep chasm on my left as he weighed in with heavy support fire from his machine gun, taking down another FENRIS and one LOKI as Russell eliminated the last one, only to get hit by machine pistol fire from a habitation module from across the chasm. "What the fuck?"He grunted, his shields flickering as they absorbed the impact of the slugs. I turned and dropped two of the LOKIs firing at me and Shepard, and he took out the last one with a 4 round burst to its head.

"Strange. Security systems were disabled at the other colonies. Looks like someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here."I said as we moved up the steps and into the module the mechs had come out of and all three of us spied a safe. As I had predicted, Russell went up to it and began trick-wiring the safe, and soon it opened.

"How much did you get for your trouble?"I asked, letting a bit of the exasperation I felt creep into my voice.

"2000 credits."He smiled as he walked over to a medkit and opened it, grabbing the tube of medigel inside before we went out of the habitation module and right into a LOKI and FENRIS, which didn't even manage to fully deploy before we destroyed it with our combined firepower. We then entered the module the mechs had been guarding, and suddenly, four quarians raised their weapons at us as me and Jacob aimed ours at them as Shepard took aim at one that was rushing to the front. Quarians? What the hell were they doing on a missing human colony? This wasn't adding up.

"Contact."He said evenly as he dropped the quarian with a triple tap to the stomach as everything went wild as said quarian screeched out in pain while she fell to the floor clutching her abdomen. "Shepard! Why'd you shoot me, you bosh'tet!"She screeched as Russell's jaw dropped.

"Oh shit! Tali? Wha…_fuck!_"He cursed as he finally noticed that the quarians were going to open fire on us.

He reacted quickly as he hit all four with a stasis as I threw a stasis of my own on them, effectively immobilizing them indefinitely as Jacob went around collecting all their weapons and throwing them into a pile far away from them. Shepard immediately administered medigel as he kneeled over Tali. "Damnit Shepard, what are you doing here? Is it really you? What are you doing with Cerberus?"The unfortunate quarian asked as the Commander replied.

"Yep, it's me. Cerberus brought me back from the dead to investigate these colony disappearances, and I'm glad for that. What are you doing here with these people? By the way, I sincerely apologize for the friendly fire. I thought that there was no one here."He asked as Tali recovered on the floor, but before she could reply, one of the trapped quarians spoke up.

"Tali, why would your old captain be working for Cerberus?"He spat the name Cerberus in disgust as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. These quarians and their petty grudges wouldn't get any closer to defeating the geth in the next hundred years than now, that's for sure.

"Like he said, he's here to investigate why these colonies have gone missing. We're here to look for a quarian on his Pilgrimage named Veetor."

"And you think he's still alive?"Jacob blurted out as I cocked my head at the quarian on the floor, waiting for her to respond.

"When he saw us landing he hid in a security station on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."Tali croaked as she stood up with Shepard's help as her quarian companions were released from their stasis fields and they gingerly moved their limbs.

"Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We should work together to find him."Russell said in a commanding tone as Tali agreed. "Good idea. You'll need two teams to get past the drones anyways."

"Now we're working for Cerberus?"The talkative quarian spat in disgust as I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes once more.

"No Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship."Tali shot back as Shepard raised an eyebrow. Looks like the irritating moron had a name after all. "Head for the security station at the center of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."Tali informed us as Russell just nodded.

"Okay, but before we go, what'd I miss between Cerberus and you guys? You really hate each other."He asked as Prazza spoke up, to my slight irritation. "They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships."

"That's not how I would've explained it exactly. It was nothing personal."I replied calmly as Jacob tried to soothe the situation. "We can argue over who killed who and who hid fugitives later. Right now, we've got a job to do."Jacob said sternly. If there was one good thing about Jacob's straight-lacedness, it was that he wouldn't let anything get in the way of the mission.

"Agreed. We work together to get to Veetor."Tali said. "Sounds like a plan. Keep in radio contact at all times. And Tali, know that I'm totally sorry for the friendly fire."Shepard said as we followed him out.

"Good luck Shepard. See you on the far side."Tali called out to us as we walked out of there unscathed, much to my surprise. We advanced forward into another habitation module where Shepard beat a mech into oblivion just because it was blocking a safe, which he cracked open. After the safe cracking, we advanced forward right into a cluster of a mix of security and rocket drones.

"Be careful Shepard! There's a squad of security drones ahead."Tali warned as we took cover.

"Yeah, really good timing you idiot."I cursed under my breath as I broke cover to down one with overload before I turned on a rocket drone atop a roof and shot it down as Shepard and Jacob took out the other three.

We continued on without any further distractions until a panicked sounding Tali came over the radio. "Shepard! Prazza and his squad just rushed on ahead! I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen! They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!"She cried as I shook my head.

"We should've expected this."I said in disdain as Jacob piped up, reloading his Revenant. "Come on! We can still catch them."He said as Shepard opened a door before turning his head to look at us.

"That we'll do, Jacob, that we'll do."He said evenly as we hurried through another habitation module and down some stairs. Unfortunately, more drones flew in and pinned us down for a minute or so before those pesky things were eliminated by overload attacks from me and Shepard in addition to the heavy gunfire the three of us were laying down on the hacked robots.

Just as the last one blew up, Tali had more bad news for us. "Hurry Shepard we're inside the load-Veetor just reprogrammed a heavy mech and it's tearing Prazza's squad apart!"Tali radioed.

"Well, they did want to get to Veetor first…"I muttered derisively as Tali continued. "Get into cover and I'll open the loading bay doors."

"Alright Jacob, you take the left. Miranda, you're with me. I'm on point."Russell ordered as both Jacob and I complied, Jacob huddling against the left of the door while Shepard and I took cover behind some concrete barricades.

As soon as we got into cover, the door opened to reveal a YMIR mech gunning down Prazza's squad with its heavy caliber machine gun as it stomped one to death beneath its massive steel foot. It seemed to be completely oblivious to us as I rushed forward and took cover behind a stack of crates as Jacob did likewise. However, Shepard simply kneeled behind the same concrete barrier, just staring at the YMIR through the sights of his CAR.

"Shepard! What the bloody hell are you doing?"I screamed at him over the roar of the YMIR's machine gun and the dull smacking of the bullets against the crates I took cover behind as it killed the last quarian and turned its attention on us. Jacob fired back, the deep staccato bass pounding of his Revenant nearly drowning out my scream as Russell finally snapped back to reality as he holstered his CAR and whipped out his X29 Incisor and slammed into the crate behind me as the YMIR turned its attention to Jacob, who ducked back behind his box.

The fragile crate next to him shattered when one of the YMIR's missiles impacted the massive crate Jacob had taken cover behind, leaving a sizeable dent in it as I poured fire at the YMIR in addition to hitting it with an overload pulse while Russell was whittling its shields down with rapid bursts from his Incisor. He had even activated the heavy disruptor ammunition we had provided him with, which was a lot more effective at whittling away the YMIR's shields than my cryo ammo. Finally, with one last burst from my CAR, the mech's shield's dissipated with a flicker.

Unfortunately, it had high-grade heavy armor plating which was proving to be a complete bitch to break down. "That mech's got heavy armor plates! Those quarians never stood a chance."Jacob yelled over the sounds of gunfire as he continued pouring a steady stream of incendiary rounds at the mech. "Fuck! And this was supposed to be a simple recon!"Russell swore as he reloaded his sniper rifle before engaging the mech once more.

"Nothing's ever simple Shepard!"I yelled back over the chatter and bark of gunfire as I threw a heavy warp bolt at it, blasting a bit of its armor into nothingness as Shepard immediately concentrated fire on that spot. The mech started to stumble and its aim became erratic as Shepard, Jacob and I continued to pour gunfire into the armor breach and damage its delicate wiring and components.

After I flung another warp, a much larger piece of its armor was vaporized and both Shepard and Jacob whipped out their ML77 rocket launchers and began blasting the rest of the YMIR's armor into nothingness. I then deployed my Arc Projector and aimed it at the mech, letting it charge up. This weapon in my hands was reported by the techs at Cerberus Skunkworks to be extremely devastating against any synthetic foe, be they geth or mechs, or even shields on any living foe or vehicle.

Unfortunately, it hadn't been extensively field tested yet, which meant that I got the dubious honor of being one of the first few to see if it really worked. After the three second charge-up delay, a brilliant white bolt of electricity arced through the air and hit the mech, which promptly crashed onto its titanium kneecaps before it planted itself face first in the ground as it emitted a beeping sound.

"Clear the area! It's gonna blow!" I yelled as we ran and took cover behind the concrete barricade just as the mech went nuclear, producing a small mushroom cloud and an almighty roar as the reactor powering the mech blew up.

We braced against the harsh, hot winds as they gusted by for a few uncomfortable seconds before we warily spread across the area, making sure there were no more unpleasant surprises. "Damn Miranda, that thing's very powerful."Russell whistled appreciatively as I stowed away my Arc Projector.

"Honestly speaking, I had no idea it would be this lethal."I replied as we headed inside a habitation module where we resupplied our heavy weapon ammunition from a chest, and Russell took the opportunity to grab some medigel from a medkit nearby as well as three thousand credits from a safe.

On the way to towards the security station, both Shepard and I stopped to scan a destroyed YMIR mech while Jacob picked up a rather old-looking rifle. "Damn, this X96 Mattock is old school."Jacob murmured as he holstered the rifle on his back before we went into the security station.

Inside was a quarian who was frantically typing away as live feeds from various cameras throughout the colony filled the holoscreens in the station and he was frantically blabbering away.

"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no." He whimpered, his entire form quivering as Shepard spoke up.

"Huh. He's in shock, and possibly suffering from PTSD as well. Whatever swarm scared him must have been beyond frightening, but it wouldn't take much since this is his first exposure to hostile elements outside of the fleet."Russell theorized as Veetor continued his panicked gibbering.

"No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide."

"Hey, calm down, nothing's gonna hurt you."Russell said soothingly, but he was ignored by the quarian. "Great. We come all this way and our only witness is a blabbering idiot."I spat out in frustration.

Damn it. Two years, four billion credits, thousands of missing colonists and one revived Commander Russell Patrick Shepard later and we weren't any nearer to finding out who was behind the colony attacks. What a waste.

I was roused from my train of frustrated thoughts when Russell used his omnitool to shut down all the monitors, finally gaining Veetor's attention. "You're human. Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?"He asked.

"We just got here Veetor. Who didn't find us?"I pressed him as he began to stammer. "The-the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone."

"Why didn't the colonists fight back? Were they incapacitated?"Russell asked. "You don't know. You didn't see. But I see everything."Veetor whispered as he turned on the screens to some surveillance footage.

"Looks like security footage. He must've pieced it together manually."I stated as something of great interest popped out on the screen. "What the hell is that?"Jacob asked, pointing to a bug-like creature as I studied it intently. I began to recall reading a schematic on the CAR on both Shepard's and my back…that's it, the thing in the footage was a Collector, no doubt about it! I felt my heart leap with joy at this new discovery. Finally this was going somewhere, and soon we could stop all of this. And Oriana could work in colony development without having to worry about being abducted.

"My God. I think it's a Collector."I said softly as Russell turned to face me. "What the hell's a Collector?"He asked.

"They're a species from beyond the Omega 4 relay. Only a few people have seen one in person."Jacob informed Shepard, who looked perplexed as he began running his hands through his curly blonde hair, which I noticed was a very nice shade of blonde and was unusually soft for a man's hair. What the bloody hell was I even thinking?

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercs. If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies."I spoke up and filled both Jacob and Russell in as I attempted to take my mind off how attractive Shepard looked even in armor…oh no.

"The Collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that disables and entire settlement at once."Jacob theorized before Veetor kindly added more information. "The seeker swarms. No one can hide. The seekers find you, freeze you. Then the monsters take you away."The terrified quarian quavered as we watched little specks fly by on the monitors, and a group of Collectors escorting pods of some kind.

"So why didn't the Collectors take you?"Russell asked Veetor.

"Swarms didn't find me. Monsters didn't know I was here."He said in a small voice as Jacob interjected. "The Collectors aren't known for being careless. Maybe his enviro suit kept him from showing up on their sensors."

"Or they were using technology specifically designed to detect humans. Only human colonies have been hit."I suggested as Shepard nodded. "Or maybe both…tell me about these swarms, Veetor."He muttered, deep in thought and looking utterly sexy-_no!_ as he turned back to Veetor.

"It's how they find you. Seeker clouds. Machines like tiny insects. They go everywhere. They find you. Then they sting you. Freeze you." "Sounds like miniature probes, maybe. Find victims, then immobilize them with a stasis field or nerve toxin."I stated, deep in thought about how those little creatures worked as Russell turned to me.

"Possible. Although I think it's more likely to be a nerve toxin as there seem to be no sign of biotics. So what happened next Veetor?"Shepard asked. "The monsters took the people to the ship and then they left. The ship flew away. But they'll be back for me. Nobody escapes!"Veetor blabbered hysterically as Jacob sighed. "That's probably all we're getting out of him Commander."

"Thank you Veetor, you were very helpful."Russell smiled reassuringly, and I found it a very charming smile as Veetor continued while powering up his omnitool. "I studied them. The monsters. The swarms. I recorded them with my omnitool. Lots of readings. Electromagnetic. Dark energy."

"We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up." I said to Shepard, but before he could answer, we were rudely interrupted by Tali coming in through the door.

"What? Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!"Tali blustered as I sighed, unable to contain my disdain at her complete foolishness. Did she really take us for fools? Did she really think that we would let our only witness to the attack slip from right under our noses so he could help the quarians to improve their weapons and kill themselves in another bloody, pointless war against the geth which they would most definitely lose and in doing so, deny us the chance to stop the colony abductions?

"We won't hurt him. We just need to know if he knows anything else. He'll be returned, _unharmed._"Jacob soothed before Shepard cut in. "I've got a better idea. Why don't we take his omnitool and I question him right here, right now? After I'm done, you can take him back Tali."Shepard said as he pulled out a chair and motioned for Veetor to sit, which the quarian did as Shepard himself took a seat.

"No! We need to-"Tali cried but was cut off by Shepard. "I wasn't negotiating. Or would you rather that Veetor be taken away to a secure facility?"Russell asked, his voice lowering dangerously as Tali just stepped aside as Jacob and I took our seats. "Okay Veetor, it's all over. Calm down. Now I need you to look into my eyes…"Russell ordered as Veetor obeyed, and they just stared at each other silently for about a minute before Russell suddenly smacked Veetor on his left arm lightly.

"Now Veetor, you're safe. Now I need you to tell me what I want to know…"Shepard said in a soft, soothing voice that made even me relax. "Miranda?"

"Yes Shepard?"I snapped back to his gaze as he chuckled. "It's Russell to you, Miranda. Could you please record everything on your omnitool?" "Of course Shepard-" "It's _Russell, honey._"He grinned like an idiot as I felt a twinge of anger welling inside my chest but I pushed it down easily. Somehow, he could read me like an open book, yet he didn't seem to know that being called 'honey' was one of my pet peeves.

On second thoughts, he probably knew, but he was just trying to get under my skin.

"You good?"The handsome idiot-_Russell_ asked me, and I nodded as I began recording. "Okay Veetor, I need you to tell me your omnitool's password and I need you to give me your omnitool as well."Russell asked as Veetor obediently removed his omnitool and handed it to Shepard. "My password is 'I wander the galaxy like a vagabond, so that I may prosper my people.'"Veetor said in a trancelike state before Russell began the questioning proper.

It was simply amazing. Half an hour later, when the interrogation was done, the amount of information we had about the abduction of Freedom's Progress and the Collectors was staggering. I definitely couldn't even match up to Russell in terms of information extraction, even when I used extreme methods. He simply used hypnotism and he got all the answers we needed.

"Thank you Veetor. I appreciate the help. Remember, you're okay. Nothing happened."Russell smiled as he tapped Veetor, who was just sitting in the chair stiffly and silently. After that, tap, Veetor stood up. "What happened?"He asked, sounding completely confused and dazed. "What did you do to him Shepard?"Tali cried as she instantly went to Veetor's side, grabbing his arm.

"I buried his memories of what happened here so that he won't suffer for the rest of his life."The Commander replied as he nodded to me. "Miranda, call the shuttle and let's go." "Yessir, I'm on it."I replied as I summoned the AI piloted shuttle to land just outside of the door.

After a fifteen minute ride back to Minuteman filled with Russell's sexist jokes (What's the best part of a blowjob? The ten minutes of silence.) (Why do men fart more often than women? Because women just can't shut up long enough to build up the required pressure.) that simply made me want to biotically slam him against the bulkhead before mounting him and bitchslapping the sexist out of him, I was instructed to report for a debrief, but not before handing the quarian's omnitool and uploading the interrogation transcript to a clerk while Shepard himself got debriefed.

On my way to the meeting room where I would debrief my boss, I passed by Joker, who was Shepard's pilot since the Saren days as he ogled at my breasts while I pointedly ignored him, completely sidestepping him with a few quick strides, my high-heeled, knee-high boots making a staccato clatter against the mezzanine floor that I relished. I stepped into the middle of the QEF Communicator and I was instantly having a 'face to face' meeting with my boss and the head of Cerberus; the Illusive Man.

"Hello Miranda. I've heard that your mission went extremely well."The Illusive Man said while he puffed away on his trademarked cigarette. Even when I first joined Cerberus eighteen years ago, he always had a Cotierone cigarette in his hands, or in between his lips, or in the ashtray right next to his seat. "Yes sir, it did. The data from the quarian's omnitool and the transcript of the interrogation should be reaching you soon."I replied as he puffed at his cigarette, allowing us a brief moment of comfortable silence.

"Very well done Miranda. I'm beyond elated with your progress on this project thus far. So is Shepard the same man he was before he died?"

"Yes he is sir. Sir, I need to raise some concerns about Shepard. He is a complete idiot most of the time and is unfocused on the mission until he's actually groundside, and I'm afraid that this might compromise the whole mission! Also, his methods are completely unconventional and-"Before I could finish my tirade about what an arsehole my new CO was, the Illusive Man stopped me with a raised index finger.

"Miranda, do you know what unconventional warfare involves?"He asked me as I bowed my head slightly, knowing that I was beaten.

"Yes sir, it involves psychological warfare."I said as he nodded. "Correct. That means that Shepard is the perfect man for the job. Also, it's about time you threw away the Girl Scout handbook and did some really unconventional warfare, Miranda."He said as he puffed on his cigarette once more.

"Oh and Miranda?" "Yes sir?"I asked as he contemplated his reply for a split second before answering. "Why don't you come over to my station this weekend to celebrate Shepard's revival? Just you, me, a candlelit dinner and some good talk and even better wine."He asked as I barely managed to stifle my sigh, recognizing it as yet another attempt at trying to have sex with me. Even when I was seventeen, he had been trying to get into my lacy black panties, and it had persisted throughout the eighteen years I had been in his service.

I always knew that he was a suave, serial philandering bastard and all his sexual liaisons with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of women of various social statuses and marital statuses throughout the galaxy. Rumor had it that he even had an orgy with two human women, who had been voted the sexiest human females alive, as well as an asari matriarch and a powerful human female politician once (yes, all four women _in the same encounter_), but of course, no evidence was present. I had personally seen him with whatever pretty girl that got his pecker hard for that day on his lap countless times.

However, I had absolutely no interest in being fucked by someone who was old enough to be my father. Come to think of it, both he and my father shared a lot in common besides their age and their desire for humanity to be one of the dominant species in the galaxy, which I wholeheartedly agreed with. So for eighteen long years, I had shot down seduction attempt after seduction attempt by my boss, yet he had persisted. I guess boys will always be boys, always lusting after what they can't have.

"Thanks but no thanks sir. I'd say it's a little too early to celebrate. Besides, I'm not in the mood. _Sir_."I replied, emphasizing the last word as he looked disappointed for a fraction of a second before he recovered from yet another seduction attempt I shot down. "Okay then Miranda. Maybe after the Collector problem is solved, we can have a night of great sex-I mean conversation."He said as I merely raised an eyebrow at his slip as he terminated the connection.

I headed to the hangar, where Commander Shepard and Joker were presumably ogling at the new, rebuilt ship that was a vast improvement from the now destroyed SSV Normandy, courtesy of Cerberus and several established shipbuilders. "I guess we'll call her the Normandy."Russell grinned as I walked in and both men turned their attention to me. "Ah hello there Miranda sweetie. Love the new ship you're giving me."He grinned at me like a kid locked up in a candy store for a really long weekend as I clenched my jaw at his new 'pet name' for me. As if honey wasn't bad enough already.

"I'm glad you like it. It's time to board, by the way."I replied stiffly as I led them to the airlock, where we saw some of the crewmembers boarding as well. When we went in, Jacob was already waiting by the airlock for us. "Ah, Shepard, Miranda. The crewmembers are already at their stations and are awaiting orders."He informed us as I gave him a curt, artificial smile. "Thank you."I said as we strode past the cockpit, where Joker was already seated in the pilot's seat.

We then walked down the row flanked by LADARmen and women, as well as navigation specialists. Only the best of the best were picked for this mission. We finally reached the CIC, where the crew was milling about, awaiting orders from Shepard as he whistled appreciatively, clearly in awe of the CIC. Me and Jacob stood behind him as I put a hand on my hip and shifted my weight to my right while Jacob stood there in parade rest. So it was true that you could take the soldier out of the military, but you couldn't take the military out of the soldier.

"Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander."Jacob said, smiling as he himself admired the view. I had to admit, it was breathtaking. "I've been looking over the dossiers. I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us."I advised Russell as he turned back to look at me with a rather charming smile.

"I agree, but we'll have to touch base with the Council first. Which means that the Citadel is our first stop. However, I do like your thinking. Very logical, very calculated and very intelligent."He replied as I let the ghost of a smile cross my face.

"Thank you Commander."I replied as EDI, the ship's AI, interjected. "Touching base with the Council before taking direct action is a logical move to start with, Commander."It intoned as Shepard whirled around on the spot, looking for EDI. "Who are you? Oh no, the voices in my head are talking to me again!"He chuckled as Jacob and several other crewmembers guffawed while I just shook my head in disdain. "I am the Normandy's artificial intelligence. The crew likes to refer to me as EDI."

"An AI onboard? Damn, this is gonna be interesting!"Shepard sniggered as EDI flickered out of existence. "But I'm guessing that it's gonna take more than me, Jacob, Miss Smokin' Hot Vixen and EDI to fly this ship."He grinned as Jacob chuckled before he saw my death glare directed at him, and he instantly stopped chuckling. However, Russell still kept grinning like the idiot he was even though I was giving him my most lethal, ice-cold stare.

"The Normandy has a full crew complement. They're at their stations awaiting their orders."I said icily, my hands on my perfectly curved hips as Shepard purposely ogled at my breasts before letting out a wolf whistle and permitting himself yet another idiotic chuckle, the bastard.

"Final preparations for takeoff are complete Commander. When you're ready to go, just pick a destination from the galaxy map in the CIC and I'll plot a course."Joker chimed in over the intercom as Shepard smiled. "Brilliant!"

"Jacob and I should return to our posts. Come find us if you have any questions."I finished, wanting nothing more than distance between me and this arsehole who just _had_ to be my new Commander as both Jacob and I began walking towards the armory and lift respectively. "I expect that we'll work well together Jacob."Russell smiled, extending his hand to my ex as Jacob responded by taking the handshake.

"Likewise Commander. Honored to be on your team, sir."Jacob said with a proud smile and a sharp salute that Russell returned before he walked into the armory. "Oh Miranda? I'm beyond glad to be working with a beautiful genius like you, and I predict that we'll get along very well."He grinned at me as I plastered a false smile that I'm pretty sure came off as a snarl on my face as I accepted his outstretched hand and shook it.

"Thank you Commander. I sincerely hope that you'll do a good job."I snarked as I suddenly felt a stinging pain coming from my right butt cheek as well as a loud 'slap', eliciting a very uncharacteristic squeak of pain and embarrassment from me. The bastard! He actually slapped me on my arse while he distracted me!

"Excuse me!"I snarled at him as he just withdrew his hand, his moronic grin simply getting wider as he sauntered to the galaxy map while I stormed into the lift. Before the doors managed to close and save me from seeing his trademarked smug grin that I wanted to wipe off his face with a liberal application of my biotics, I heard him yell "To the Citadel and beyond!", earning loud roars of laughter and hoots of approval from the crew.

Nothing could even begin to describe the despair I felt at that moment as I facepalmed so hard that I'm pretty sure that there was a handprint on my face.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Yeah I know, "OMG TALI! NOOOO!" According to my dad (who used to be an SAS soldier who operated in the Falklands and the First Gulf War, so he knows what he's talking about), if a situation like Freedom's Progress happened in real life, Tali and her buddies would be dead. In my dad's own words, "They had guns pointed at Shepard and company, yet they didn't fire at those aliens? What kind of special operator is this?" I'm sorry I can't update fast enough for some of you ****, but my business management course and my boyfriend just isn't letting me update as much as I want. No, my boyfriend isn't disapproving or anything, he just keeps asking for some good ol' lovin'(NO! IT'S NOT **_**THAT**_** YOU PERVS! Well…it is a couple of times.) far too often. So do remember to review before you go, I'm a total despo for reviews. See you!**

XOXOKatherineXOXO


	3. The Genesis

**Author's Notes: Heeeeeyy everyone I'm back after that damn writer's block! I know you guys have been 'puppy dog-eyeing' me for an update for months now, so you can stop giving me those burning looks of condemnation…*sobs*Anyways, on with the story! Oh, and thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate your input.**

Commander Russell Patrick Shepard had just finished his meeting with the Citadel Council after we recruited Kasumi, and it didn't go well even though he got confirmation from Councilor Anderson that his Spectre status still stood. In fact, I've never seen him this pissed before as he railed at the Council, whom he'd saved (for nothing, if you ask me. They were still as stupid and utterly useless as usual).

Actually, he was just railing at the turian and the salarian, and he was outright flirting with the asari councilor, whose name was Councilor Tevos if I remember correctly. This asari matron who was supposedly wise and completely stoic was now behaving like a teenaged schoolgirl with a massive crush as Russell hit on her.

It made me feel a little sick that a supposedly sexless asari was trying to get fresh with Commander Shepard. What was so special about him anyways? Sure, he looked really handsome, I'll admit that (hey, I'm still a red-blooded young woman with desires and needs after all), was a good shot, was a very powerful biotic, knew some mind tricks, and could read people easily. So what? I'm certain at least a few hundred people out there had the exact same skills that Shepard had, and were probably better than him.

Some may call it 'animal magnetism', but I found it utterly ridiculous. From an anthropological viewpoint (I had a PhDs in both human and xeno-anthropology), it was complete bloody rubbish. Pheromones were what determined sexual attraction in both human and alien alike, and the theory of 'animal magnetism' was the exact opposite of this proven science.

Anyways, we were headed down to Zakera Ward, which was the shopping district of the Citadel. Whenever I had some free time, which was a scarcity these days, I always loved coming here for shopping sprees. I mean, Leather n Lace's flagship store was right here, and so was Dara's, and Impressions…okay, the point is, Zakera Ward was basically thirteen floors of shopping heaven. However, Russell remained on the 28th floor and the first stop he made was at the _games kiosk._

Yes, the almighty Commander Russell Patrick Shepard's first stop was a bloody _game kiosk_, where he bought some in-game items for his level 136 warlock in Galaxy of Fantasy (which was a yawnfest. I quit after getting my mage to level 64), and he bought a copy of Medal of Duty: Overt Ops as well. "You have no idea how much I was looking forward to this title! They released the trailer a week before I died and it just got released two weeks ago! Thanks for bringing me back in time Miranda sweetie."Russell grinned as I inhaled sharply.

"You're welcome, _Commander_."I faked a smile, which I knew (and fully intended) came out as a snarl, and I made sure that my tone managed to make his rank seem like an insult.

"Okay…"He mumbled, raising one hand up in defeat as I smiled genuinely in satisfaction, while Jacob and Kasumi, who were behind me, both started sniggering at Russell's wounded expression.

"Well, if you're done satisfying your inner nerd, let's go get some weapon upgrades, _Commander_."I said in a sickeningly sweet tone that sent Jacob and Kasumi into another sniggering fit as Russell's face fell even further.

"Okay. Let's go."He sighed sadly as he fell in step behind me as I walked into Rodam Expeditions, where a turian stared at me suspiciously before he started to appraise me, and from the way he looked at me, he was more than happy at what he saw. Sometimes, I just wish I didn't have this accursed genetic perfection that made me so bloody sexy, beautiful, hot, alluring, charming, and-okay, the point is, while I enjoyed being the centre of attention sometimes, I just preferred to keep a low profile most of the time as having so many eyes on me could be quite unsettling sometimes.

"Welcome to Rodam Expeditions humans. What do you want?"The turian, which according to his shopkeeper's nametag, was named Etarn.

"Well, we're here to get some weapon upgrades…damn. The Ariake Tech XCR700 superstabiliser is out! I always wanted that thing for my sniper-shit."Russell mumbled as soon as he saw the price tag, which was a rather ridiculous 65 thousand credits. Hell, I could get it direct at half the price.

"Hey, Etarn, could you give me a discount man? I wanna buy it, but the price is just too steep."Russell smiled disarmingly at the turian shopkeep, who looked at him suspiciously.

"Who do you think are, asking me for a discount? What's so special about you that I have to give _you_ a discount?"

"Well, I'm Commander Russell Patrick Shepard, and-" "Really? The Commander Shepard who saved the Citadel? Yeah of course, anything I can do for you! Spirits, I'd even name my first child after you if you wanted!"The turian cut Russell off with pure glee as he activated his omnitool and gave Russell a discount just like he'd wanted.

"Hey thanks! But nevermind about naming your child after me. It's just too egoistical."Russell grinned at Etarn as he scrolled down the electronic catalog list and purchased some SMG recoil compensators, a dozen of his much-coveted sniper stabilizers, a few dozen advanced grade mass effect generators that were made for pistols and several bandoliers.

"All this is rather unnecessary Shepard. You could've just asked me to put in a requisition order and we would've definitely gotten all of these."I remarked as Shepard just grinned at me.

"Well, this is how I always acquired new weapons and other stuff when I was still with the Spectres. Force of habit. Besides, I'm saving Cerberus quite a few credits with these discounts I'm getting."He smiled as we walked down the stairs and into Citadel Souvenirs. The asari shopkeeper greeted us Russell looked at the catalog and rubbed his forehead.

"Hey…Deleia…"Russell said politely as he read the shopkeeper's nametag. "Yes, how may I help you?"She asked sweetly as she smiled at the Commander.

"Well, I was wondering if you could give me a discount, because nine grand for a space hamster is pretty over-the-top."

"Yes, but it _is _very adorable, and I'm sorry, but you'd have to sign up for the customer loyalty package."Deleia replied as she handed Russell a pamphlet as he looked deep in thought for a moment.

"Or how about the Spectre who took Saren out endorsing your store? I'm sure that your sales volume would increase dramatically."Russell smiled as revelation dawned on the asari shopkeeper.

"Oh my goodness! I knew you were Shepard! Well, speak right into my console here!"She was almost squealing like a giddy schoolgirl as I facepalmed. Jacob and Kasumi had been given leave to go do some shopping elsewhere, and therefore I was stuck with this cheap, annoying moron. _Alone_.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel."He chuckled as the asari looked like she was going to faint from pure joy.

"God…that was so bloody corny…"I moaned as Russell perused the catalog, and he grinned.

"Thanks for the 50% discount miss!"He grinned, flashing the clerk a thumbs up and a charming smile as she swooned over him. "Oh you're welcome Commander!"

After he'd finished his purchase of some Illium skaldfish, a 1:150 replica model of the first Normandy, and a 1:500 replica model of the Destiny Ascension, he sauntered out of the store. "Well Miranda, it's time to grab the supplies Gardner wanted."He smiled at me, not knowing how badly I wanted Gardner to have those supplies.

The first meal I had onboard was a simple tuna salad, yet it was horrible. The ingredients were the furthest thing from fresh, and I highly suspected that the salad dressing was nearing expiry. When I questioned Gardner, he'd complained about sub-standard supplies and asked me if I could requisition some better grade ones.

Unfortunately, Cerberus could get anything from L5x biotic implants to experimental M10 anti-material sniper rifles, but somehow, good food seemed to be beyond Cerberus' ability to obtain, and I had to spend an hour explaining that to him. Honestly, I was as incredulous about the whole thing as he was.

I fully expected the Commander to ask the turian shopkeeper behind the counter if he could get a discount, but Russell defied by expectations by just buying the supplies without talking to the turian clerk, who was engaged in a debate with a man about not mixing spice chiralities in steak. And when I say 'buy supplies', I mean a whole lot of it.

Russell bought about ¾ of a ton of fresh space beef, a ton of fresh Earth chicken, tuna…okay you get the general idea. When the Illusive Man received the bill, he was probably going to go into a massive cardiac arrest as well as a massive stroke. Or maybe Russell had it all planned already…

"Well, let's go Miranda. What's wrong?"He enquired nonchalantly upon seeing the look of disbelief I was probably wearing as he turned back to face me.

"Are you serious? _That much food_?"I said, the pitch of my voice growing higher with every word as he simply nodded and grinned as he walked off. Unbelievable.

We then went down to level 26, where we saw a quarian, volus and a human C-Sec officer in a heated argument. "This clanless is a thief, and I want her arrested!"The volus snorted as the quarian extended her arms in protest.

"Whoa, what's going on here?"Russell interrupted with a raised hand as the officer sighed tiredly. "Sir, I'm trying to take a statement here."

"There's nothing to talk about! She stole my credit chit. Arrest her!"The volus breathed with indignation as the quarian stiffened. "I did not! Just because I'm a quarian-"

"I need you to stop and take a deep breath."The officer sighed, directing it at the volus who got offended.

"You're mocking me Earth clan! Just-" "Look, are you sure you didn't just drop or leave your credit chit somewhere?"I interrupted the volus exasperatedly, sick of their bickering.

"Of course not! You think I'd make a mistake like that? She ran into me outside the Sirta Foundation store."The volus huffed as Russell broke in.

"How does running into you make her a thief?"He asked as the volus shook his pudgy head.

"That's how pickpockets work. They bump into you and use that as a cover for rifling your pockets. You can't turn your backs on these clanless quarians. Thieves, all of them."The volus grunted as both Shepard and I sighed simultaneously.

And those misguided morons in the Alliance and elsewhere said Cerberus was xenophobic. What a bloody joke.

"And you say you've been falsely accused?"Russell asked the quarian as she nodded.

"I was walking to the used ship dealer when he barged into me outside the Sirta Foundation. He didn't stop or say sorry. A minute later, he runs up with C-Sec and accuses me of stealing his damn chit!"The quarian raged as Russell nodded.

"So, does she have the chit on her?"I asked the officer, whose badge read 'Tammert'.

"My omnitool scan for the chit came up empty. But she could've stashed it for recovery later."He replied as he scanned the quarian once more, but it came up negative.

"Righto. I'll look into this and see if I can get that chit back."Russell said, mostly a statement as he walked off and I followed him, both of us ignoring Tammert's protests of 'C-Sec matter', and not needing 'civilian help'.

Unsurprisingly, Russell went into a store. "Welcome to Saronis Applications. Can I-ah! Shepard!"The salarian clerk, whose name was Marab, chattered excitedly as soon as Russell stepped in with me by his side. "I don't think I remember you, sorry…"

"But I remember you. Even a senile hanar would remember the human who fought off the geth! I thought you were dead!"He enthused as Russell broke into a rather charming and shy grin. "Yeah, I can't blame you because almost everyone on this station thought the same."

"Please, look around the store! It's a pleasure to have you here."Marab said as Shepard did just that, perusing the catalog until he found a Hahne-Kedar YF33 Shield Harmonizer and a Serrice Council Savant omnitool. "You know, I buy a lot of software. I mean, the damn Alliance is still giving 2183's star charts!"He grinned as Marab's eyes widened incredulously.

"2183? Why don't they just give you a slide rule and ask you to eyeball it?"The salarian shook his head in dismay as Russell grinned in agreement. "Exactly, right? That's why I need a good dude like you to sell me the tech I need at wholesale prices."The Commander smirked as he clapped Marab on the shoulder.

"Wholesale? But of course! It's the least I can do for you!"The salarian grinned as he programmed the catalog to charge Shepard half-price.

"Thanks a bunch! By the way, did a volus come in here and leave his credit chit here?"Russell asked as he bought the upgrades.

"Oh! Yes. He bought some environmental system drivers, and then left without his chit. I didn't notice it until he was already gone. If you see him, tell him I have it here behind the counter."Marab replied as Shepard smiled. "Thanks a bunch!"

We then went into the Sirta Foundation store, where Russell seduced the asari clerk into giving him a half price discount by giving her the endorsement I was already tired, but would grow even more tired of in the near future. "I'm Commander Russell Patrick Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel."He spoke into the console as I groaned in dismay.

"For the love of God Russell, did it need to be that corny?"I asked disparagingly as he shrugged, using the catalog to buy some armor, a few hundred units of medigel, and a medigel storage upgrade. "Hey I thought it was pretty good myself…"He mumbled as we walked out of the store and back towards the troublesome trio, who were still busy bickering.

"You forgot your credit chit. Marab at Saronis Applications is keeping it for you."Russell informed the volus exasperatedly as the volus shifted uncomfortably. "Oh. Well. The quarian could've stolen it…"He stuttered abashedly as the officer spoke up.

"I'll close this event report. But I'll be watching you. Get a permanent residence, or-"Tammert warned, pointing at the quarian as Shepard took a stride forward, getting right in the officer's face.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"Russell growled, which personally intimidated me somewhat-no, just a little. The volus looked at Shepard and asked "What?" in an incredulous tone of voice as Russell bent down and was almost face to face, or face to mask in this case, which was an extremely intimidating gesture to do to a volus.

"You falsely accused her of stealing from you. And not only do you not apologize, you even say that she could've stolen it."Russell snarled as he stood upright to confront the officer, ignoring the volus' splutters of protest.

"And you, defender of the law! She gets harassed and insulted by this jackass, and you don't defend her! No, you even have to threaten to run her in!"Russell snarled, grabbing the officer by the lapels of his uniform as I felt my respect for Shepard grow. He really was like the Commander Shepard in the reports and the tales, caring about even the outcasts and taking time to help everyone.

"How about if I run you in for obstruction of justice?"Tammert scowled, trying but mostly failing to keep his fear under check. "Run in a Spectre? Really. Now fuck off."Russell spat as both the volus and the officer realized who they were talking to.

"Son of a…"Tammert grumbled as he walked off, and the volus quietly went off.

"Thank you. I-I wish I could give you more than words."The quarian stammered out, eternally grateful as Russell raised a hand. "Just did what anyone else would've done. Take care of yourself, and watch where you're going next time."Russell bade farewell as he turned around and slipped his arm around mine, earning a gasp of shock followed by an insulted glare from me.

"Well, Miranda _honey_, let's go get your favorite Marsden cherry chocolates and Claire Laver strawberry shampoo from the Hightown downstairs eh?"Russell grinned as I spun on him in shock.

"How the bloody hell did you know I love Marsden's cherry chocolates and that I use Claire Laver strawberry shampoo?"I asked, my tone low as Russell's expression became a classic 'oh shit' expression.

"I…uh…Gunny Williams used that a lot, and uh…you…um…have posh tastes, so…only Marsden for you, right? …Right…?"He stammered uncertainly as my eyes narrowed into slits as I saw through his blatant, terrible lie.

"Oh? A tomboy NCO in the _Alliance_ using an absolutely feminine shampoo that costs 265 credits a bottle on a regular basis? Liar. Also, Marsden chocolates are handmade, which is why only high society people know about them as it's _never_ advertised."I scowled at him as he was lost for words.

"I-well, I saw your box lying around in the mess-" "Liar. How. The. _Fuck._ Do. You. Know."I seethed as Shepard's eyes darted about frantically.

"Well, I have a copy of the ship's inventory, and I happened to spot them and I assumed they were yours."Russell replied as I narrowed my eyes even further.

"So, what else did you hack into besides my documents?"I growled, still grabbing him by his shirt lapels as he sighed apologetically.

"Well, I hacked into all of the nine cam-shit."He whimpered as he realized that he'd given himself away.

"My room is bugged?" "Yeah. But it was already bugged when I got onboard and I just happened to chance upon them. Those bugs are high-end L7 bugs used only by Cerberus, the Spectres and the STG. Even the fourteen bugs I found in the communal ladies bathroom were just HG4s."He replied.

"Are you bloody _kidding me? !_"I hissed in disbelief as he just nodded. It didn't make sense! Why on Earth would the Illusive Man bug my quarters? I was his most trusted, most loyal, and the most beautiful operative…oh. Oh.

"What was the bug distribution?"I asked Russell urgently as he called up his omnitool. "Well, you had five in the bathroom and four surrounding your bed."

"Oh no-no-no-no-no…"I moaned in dismay, realizing that everything, even my little masturbation session in the showers, had been seen by both my CO _and _my boss. Oh, how I wanted to just drop dead right there and then.

When we left Minuteman, we were an hour out from the relay when Jacob had managed to procure heavy Silaris armor plating for the Normandy, and he told Russell and he had immediately turned the ship back to Minuteman, wasting a good two hours for the trip, and we were to remain on the ship for the entirety of the five days that it took for the armor plating to be installed.

Unfortunately, by the second day, my already high state of sexual desire was unbearable, and on the third morning, I finally gave in and masturbated in my private shower. Which meant that both my CO and boss had a really good private show of my little 'solo-loving time' session and I hadn't the slightest clue that they were watching.

"I-uh, well I understand your needs completely, but I _swear _the bug discovery was accidental!"Russell defended himself as I shoved him against an ad projector in fury.

By now, the two of us had attracted quite a bit of attention, and I had to end this soon or risk getting C-Sec called down on us. "Sure. But you tapping those bugs sure as hell isn't accidental. I'll be watching you, and you better bloody well disconnect those bugs."I snarled as I shoved him away before pushing past the crowd to head to the Hightown a floor below.

Three hours later, we had all the supplies and upgrades we needed, and we were en route to Omega. Shepard, Jacob and I were in the briefing room poring over the dossiers that the Illusive Man had given to us. "Okay, I concur with Miranda that going after Mordin Solus first is the best idea. Archangel can come later, because we don't need a sniper at the moment as I've already got that covered. We _do_, however, need a genius that can create some kind of countermeasure against those Collector bug swarms, and Mordin is that genius we need."Russell said with finality as both I and Jacob nodded in agreement.

"Okay. So Archangel comes after the Professor…then what about Zaeed Massani?"I asked, leaning back into my chair as Russell leant forward to grab his mug of coffee and the datapad on Jack, a Cerberus experiment who was a super biotic because of those experiments.

"I get the feeling we'll just run into him randomly on Omega. Last word that Timmy has on him says he's pursuing a contract there. After we get these three musketeers, we go for the krogan warlord Okeer, then finally Jack. Jack's in the space version of Vorkuta, and I don't want to just go in there waving creds around to secure some super-biotic's freedom. I want some serious firepower on my side first so that anyone who wants to even consider fucking with us will have to drop that line immediately. Any objections?"The Commander asked as I nodded, but Jacob shook his head.

"One thing. We're going to have to infiltrate Donovan Hock's party on the 28th of October, which is slightly more than a month away as today is the 15th of September, so do remember to keep that in mind sir. We can't miss that party."I reminded Russell as he nodded.

"Duly noted XO Lawson. If there's nothing else, dismissed."He said as he walked out of the room with all the dossiers in hand as Jacob and I went our separate ways.

I headed to the lift, but Russell was there in front of the lift with an OSD in hand. "Miranda, could you please play the songs in this OSD for me? I have absolutely no idea how to play it over the ship's PA system."Russell asked me as I merely raised an eyebrow at his request but acceded to it. 

"Alright Shepard. EDI, play the OSD."I ordered EDI as I placed the OSD on her console for her to scan. Almost immediately, a very catchy tune came up as I heard some groans and could even hear Joker yell "For fucks sakes Shepard! Not again!"

"What's going on?"I asked, slightly confused as even Yeoman Chambers facepalmed.

"Well Miranda…you've just been Rick rolled."Russell replied with a smarmy grin.

"Huh? Rick what?"

"Rick rolled. It's a prank, Miranda. You've just been rick rolled!"He smile wavered as I scratched my head.

"Why would it be a prank? I mean, this song is really pleasant!"I replied, honestly having no clue as to why the hell people would get irritated at such a good song.

"You're shitting me right, Lawson? Right? …Right?"His grin faded as I shook my head in all sincerity. "Of course not! I've never even heard of this 'rick roasting' thing. A full commitment's what I'm thinking of…you wouldn't get this from any other guy…"I sang along as I slipped into the elevator, leaving Russell spluttering in shock.

Instead of heading back to my office, I went up to Shepard's cabin, which I noted with a pang of jealousy was about twice the size of mine and have a large aquarium which already contained the fish he'd bought on the Citadel. "Never gonna give you up…never gonna let you down…"I softly sang along to the song as I accessed Shepard's terminal with my special password that overrode ever other account user's privacy privilege.

It took me about 5 minutes to find the folder where Russell had put all of the footage of my cabin in, and I opened it up and promptly saw a full color, high definition video of me fingering myself furiously while the water from the shower head beat down upon my wet, naked form as my moaning could be clearly heard.

I disabled the surveillance from his terminal and deleted all the videos, especially the one where I successfully masturbated myself to an orgasm before I left his cabin and headed back down to mine while I sang to the ending of that song.

"Never gonna make you cry…never gonna say goodbye…"I hummed in satisfaction as the lift doors closed.

Slightly more than six hours later found me with my back pressed to the wall as I took cover against the sloppy full auto rifle fire of a bunch of Blood Pack vorcha. Suddenly, Zaeed Massani, our newest recruit (whom I had literally run into on the Omega docks, which was somewhat true to Russell's prediction) and one of the most notorious mercs in the galaxy, threw one of his incendiary grenades past the corner.

However, I was at the edge of the wall, and in order for Zaeed to throw his grenade, his arm had to make contact with the bust of my armor. "Hey! Watch it!"I yelled at him in irritation as a loud clacking signified the collision between the arms of his armor and the chestplate of mine.

"Oh I'm sorry cupcake."He guffawed in amusement at my irritation as I just shook my head as I leaned out to cleanly remove half of a vorcha's head with a short burst from my Collector Assault Rifle. Shepard, Jacob, Kasumi, Zaeed and I were trying to get to the ventilation control room that Professor Mordin Solus, who was the salarian genius we were trying to recruit, had indicated so that we could release the cure into the ventilation systems for the lower blocks of Omega and cure the plague the vorcha had unleashed onto the populace.

After eliminating the krogan who had been set on fire by Zaeed's grenade, we arrived in the central control room, which was more of a series of walkways and bridges than a room, and the control console was located in a large alcove right at the back, and there were at least a platoon of vorchas in between us and the console where Mordin said that we could inject the cure.

Of course. Those damn vorchas.

"Ragh! You no come here! We shut down machines! Break fans! Every-"The vorcha who rushed out to greet us had his little tirade ended prematurely by a burst from Russell's rifle which blew the vorcha's head clean off.

"Yeah yeah, heard it all before…"Russell sighed wearily as we began to open fire on the vorcha. I killed two with my rifle before I hit a vorcha wielding a flamethrower with an overload pulse from my omnitool and blew it up in a rain of fiery chunks of flesh. "I've scanned the area. The central control centre is in the alcove at the back wall. You may insert the vials containing the cure there."EDI informed us as I muttered out my thanks before I peeked out of cover to warp a vorcha into nothingness.

Meanwhile, Russell was busy taking out vorcha and a couple of krogans that were coming out of a door on the left of the platform we were on with his Collector Assault Rifle, and I ran over to where he was and reloaded before I began firing at the mercs. Kasumi cloaked and reappeared behind another flamethrower wielding merc as she simultaneously stuck a small square of RDHPX (Research Developed High Penetration eXplosive) to the high-octane fuel tanks of said merc.

"Got a present for you!"She said sweetly as all the mercs turned to face her, but she recloaked and disappeared just as the RDHPX was detonated, killing all the mercs on the left side. She reappeared right by my side a few seconds later, grinning like the cat that ate the canary as she sucked in deep breaths, a testament to how fast she'd run back to our position after sticking the explosive to the hapless merc.

"Nice one Miss Goto. Let's go help the old man and Jacob."Russell ordered us as he ran over to where Zaeed was sniping vorcha with his Mantis while Jacob kept them suppressed with incendiary fire from his Revenant.

"Oi! Fuck off Shepard! I am _not _an old man!"Zaeed protested as he shot, only to miss the vorcha he was aiming at as I cleaned up for him with a heavy warp, vaporizing the vorcha.

"Well, _cupcake_, looks like I just cleaned up for you."I said with a cloyingly sweet tone as we continued firing at the mercs.

"Bloody disrespectful youngsters these day-" "Miranda, go insert the cure into the control console, we'll cover you! Zaeed quit whining and get up on that platform and cover us with your rifle."Russell bar ked, interrupting Zaeed's grumbling as both Zaeed and I ran for our respective objectives.

I reached the console and immediately plugged the cure in. However, a notification came up, instructing me to turn on fan one and two, which had their controls located in the rooms at the end of the left and right platforms respectively.

"Shepard! We've got a problem! We need to activate two fans, and the controls are located behind the rooms on both the left and right platforms!"I yelled as I ran back to Shepard, who had just fried one hapless vorcha with an incinerating plasma jet from his omnitool while I gunned another down with a long burst from my rifle.

"Okay! Jacob, Kasumi, take the right! Miranda, you're on me and Zaeed, take out any fucker that shoots at us!"Russell hollered as Jacob yelled "Hoorah!" in reply as Kasumi just nodded as they proceeded to do just that, and Jacob gunned down a krogan in a hail of incendiary rounds as he ran down the steps, followed closely by Kasumi.

"Got one!"Zaeed cackled in delight as he shot a vorcha in the head before Shepard and I began running as we fired at the dozen advancing vorcha and the two krogan overseers. The vorcha were easy enough as Russell warped two of them, and I overloaded the fuel tanks of yet another flamethrower vorcha, blowing it and four of its nearest companions to fiery hell. Meanwhile, Jacob and Kasumi were slowly making progress as Blood Pack anti-armor squads were firing at them with rocket launchers, but Zaeed was doing his job very well and opposition on the bridge they were on was much lighter than our bridge.

The krogan were a bit more of a challenge, but the power of my biotics added to Russell's and some well aimed fire took them down. I glimpsed that one had dropped a datapad as he fell, and I noticed that he was the Blood Pack equivalent of a major. "Cover me Russell! I'm going for that datapad!"I called into my mic as I sprinted for the datapad. "Wait! I'm still reload-fuck!"Russell cursed, but I didn't notice as I kept running down the long corridor.

I bent down to pick it up, but when I bent over and grasped the datapad, the door which simply _had_ to be right in front of the corpse opened to reveal two more flamethrower troops. Who had their weapons pointed right at me. "Oh, bloody hell."I breathed in fear as I had absolutely no time to do anything, not even call up my biotics. I closed my eyes as I braced myself for the inevitable end, the deep dark blackness as I thought about Oriana and what she was doing. "I'm so sorry Ori…I guess that not knowing me was for the best."I quavered as I resigned myself to the grasp of death.

I saw the bright flash of the flames emitting from their flamethrowers and felt it touch…I felt someone tackling me to the ground and pin me under his body weight and shield me with his body…

Wait, what the fuck just happened?

My eyes snapped open to find Commander Russell Patrick Shepard cradling me as he used his body as a shield against the flames, and his face was contorted in a grimace of pain as he yelled in pain.

I reacted quickly, bringing my omnitool to bear at the two vorcha and overloaded their fuel tanks once more and blew them up. "_Fuck!"_Russell roared in agony as he quickly rolled off me, beating at his badly melted armor which still had little patches of flame still on it.

I swiftly jumped on him and successfully put on the fires on his armor as he groaned. "Oh God Russell are you alright?"I babbled out in a rush of panic, fearing that Project Lazarus had come to naught as he tried to protect me.

"Besides the fact I'm kinda roasted on the outside? Yeah I'm fucking peachy."He growled as he picked up his rifle.

"Shep-Russell, you shouldn't have saved me. It was my mistake, I should've paid the price. Not you."I said softly as we entered the control room and he reactivated the fans, tapping away rapidly t the Haptic Adaptive Interface (HAI).

" What the hell are you talking about? I can _never _see a member of my crew get wounded and do nothing when I can do something about it. I did what should've been done. Did you get that fucking pad?"He asked as I nodded. "Good. At least me getting toasted wasn't in vain."He winced in pain and some satisfaction when we heard that Jacob and Kasumi had reactivated the other fan.

"Russell, thank you. But please, don't ever do something like that again. You're too damn important to sacrifice yourself for me."I replied as he snorted as we walked out of the room.

"Miranda, you may consider me as nothing more than your CO, but I consider you to be my family. I would sacrifice myself to save any of you any day. If it came down to a choice between me dying or my team, my _family_, dying, I would definitely pick me. It's to be expected of an officer."He replied as our team regrouped. "Shit Shepard, what the fuck happened?"Jacob asked as Zaeed piped up.

"Shep here got the flame purifying treatment while trying to save Miranda."The merc grunted as he inspected Shepard. "Goodness Shepard-" "Eh I'll be fine. 'Sides, we're going back to Mordin's. No biggie."Russell interrupted Kasumi with a groan as we headed back to Mordin's.

"So, I take it that you'll join my squad now Professor?"Russell asked as Mordin treated his burns. We had spent twenty minutes getting back to the clinic , and we saw the assistant we rescued from the batarians back at work treating an asari.

"Yes. Work here complete. Thank you for helping me to spread the cure and get rid of threats to clinic. Will join you once done with treating your burns. Not too severe. Very lucky man, Shepard."Mordin said in less than three and a half seconds.

"And thank you from me too. Those batarians would've killed me. I really thought you were going to shoot them even after they let me go. By the way, who's Marnak and why were you asking them for info on him?"Daniel, the rescued assistant asked Russell as the Commander just grunted.

"I was kinda tempted, but since they were scared shitless and had no info or links to Marnak, which is none of your business, I just let them go."Russell winced as Mordin applied some medigel to a burn on his deliciously well toned and well defined left biceps before bandaging it.

"Hmm. Merciful of you. Would've killed them myself. Dangerous."Mordin muttered as Daniel's jaw dropped in horror. "Doctor, how can you say that? ! You believe in helping people-"

"Many different ways to help people. Sometimes cure them, sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps."Mordin sniffed as Russell nodded in agreement.

"Yep. Kid, it's rough as shit out there. Oh yeah, there's a batarian at the entrance to this neighborhood who needs medical attention."Shepard informed the young assistant as Mordin turned to him.

"Go tend to him. Cure him. Do what you do best Daniel."He said simply as Daniel nodded and walked off. "Good kid. Bit naïve. Leaving him the clinic. And the mechs, just to be safe."The professor hummed as he finished up his work.

"Okay then Mordin. Get your gear and follow us to our ship now if possible."Russell said as Mordin nodded. "Indeed. Will pack my equipment. Need about three minutes."

Shepard, the team and I walked out into the reception area which was still full of sick but recovering patients and human refugees and I pulled Russell, who was clad in his N7 undershirt and a pair of spare slacks, aside.

"Thank you for saving my life Russell. I really appreciate it, and well…thank you. I owe you."I smiled thinly but gratefully at him as he just laid a big hand on my shoulder. "Miranda, you're family to me. I'll do anything to protect you. Remember, we're family."He grinned at me as he sauntered off to open up the package containing a new set of his N7 armor that was delivered by Bowman, a Cerberus commando who was stationed on our ship.

Family. I quite liked the word. Family.

**A/N: Well, this is the start of what's gonna be a scandalous, steamy relationship between Miri and Russ. Please don't crucify me for the slow updates, uni's a bitch…*bursts into tears and hysterical sobbing*so please, review! I **_**love**_** reviews! It's food for the writer in me.**

**Also…BIOWARE JUST FUCKING TELL US IF MIRI'S GONNA BE A FULL TIME SQUADDIE IN ME3 ARRRGGG *ends fangirl rant***

**XOXOKatherineXOXO**


	4. Alpha Game

**Author's Notes: Hey guys, its Katie once more with a new chapter of MoL! I know, I've been really lazy with these updates (due to my MSTs and volleyball practice), but they **_**might**_** be speeding up…due to my dislocated shoulder which puts me out of the team for a month or two. :===( Note that the operative word here is 'might'…anyways, on with the fic!**

We were hustling through the streets and alleys of Omega to get to the carport, where the merc recruiter in Afterlife had instructed us to go in order to get to the ward of Omega where Archangel was holed up in. Apparently, the only way to get to Archangel was to pose as a freelancer and take the shuttle like every other wannabe tough guy to the battle zone. From there, it was a typical 'follow the bad guys and try not to get shot by the person you're trying to get to' situation. I hated it, but there wasn't another way. Archangel, who's a turian, was very, _very_ good at covering his back. An old mineshaft that led to his little slice of home had already been blown up, collapsing a good portion of it and taking out a few mercs. Every other approach was either destroyed or booby trapped.

Good for the 'angel', for us. It basically meant that we had to wade through mercs and an unwelcome amount of lead being poured our way just to get to one man. Just peachy.

We approached a batarian who was wearing Blue Suns armor and was idly casually lounging around in an aircar. "We're here for the Archangel job."Russell cleared his throat as the batarian tossed aside his Fornax datapad. "Finally they send me some people who look like they can actually fight. Sweet."He rumbled before his gaze turned to me. "Hey sweet cheeks, you sure look like you're in the wrong place. My dick is right here."He grinned lecherously before it turned into a satisfying grimace when I grabbed and twisted the arm that he extended to grope my buttocks behind his back.

"Listen up, you fucking idiot. One more time you try to grope me or talk to me like that, I'm going to be driving my team there personally. And I'll toss you out of the car and into the streets for the vorcha to snack on. Understand? Now get driving."I hissed as he nodded frantically. Russell, Jacob and Zaeed were all making identical, stupid faces of approval while Kasumi had a 'you go sister' expression.

"Yeah-yeah! I'm sorry!"The batarian croaked as I let go, allowing myself a satisfied smile as he clambered into the aircar and started it up before we followed his lead, zipping off to wherever Archangel was.

About half an hour later, Russell was getting briefed by a batarian by the name of Cathka while the four of us stood behind him, examining the A61 Mantis gunship that had allegedly been taken down singlehandedly by Archangel. "Shit, the bugger up there took this down himself? Not bad at all. Reminds me of the time when I singlehandedly destroyed a Grizzly by rushing it with PE in my socks…"Zaeed began as I tuned him out, choosing to survey the area instead.

On our way to this landing pad, the Commander had questioned the chief of operations of the Eclipse, Blue Suns and Blood Pack. We learned that Zaeed had some dealings with Tarak, the head of the Blue Suns on Omega, and Tarak owed him something. He'd also stolen a datapad from Jaroth, who was the Eclipse head on Omega, on the way out of the room where Jaroth was planning his attack on Archangel's compound. Kasumi had hacked an YMIR heavy mech on the way here, and we stole credits, brand new X15 Vindicators, and several black-market Batarian State Arms W55 subgun recoil compensators from a Blue Suns storeroom. Now all we had to do was…

"Yo Sarge, you need a break. Chill out man."Russell grinned as he plunged an electric soldering torch into Cathka's back and the Blue Suns merc spazzed uncontrollably as he fell to the ground dead while Russell was simply walking away from the corpse nonchalantly, like nothing had happened.

"Like a boss bro! You alright!"Jacob guffawed as both he and Russell fist bumped.

"Aww yeah! All I needed right there was a pair of aviators."Russell grinned, causing Zaeed to guffaw loudly and Kasumi to snigger as I just sighed. This was going to be longer than I anticipated.

"Are you two done referencing law enforcement movies? If so, let's go. Archangel doesn't have much time."I huffed as I gestured at the freelancers rushing the barricades, a clear indicator that the assault was beginning.

"Oops! Alrighty then boys and girls, saddle up!"The Commander grinned as we rushed up with the freelancers. It was…rather-I mean, _slightly_ nerve-wracking just seeing how bloody accurate our man was. He was popping freelancers in the head left, right and centre…yet he didn't touch us. Strange.

My team and I, along with a few freelancers, made it into the hideout, and we saw a fulltime Blue Suns mercs setting up a bomb on the ceiling right below where Archangel was. "Miranda, overload the bomb."Russell mumbled as I happily complied, blowing the bomb up and taking the merc and most of the freelancers with it.

"They're with Archangel!"A freelancer yelled before I shut him up with a quick burst from my X8 Avenger which splattered his brains on the floor. Actually, Russell had also shot him in the head with his X15 Vindicator, but I got off the first shot. Neither the Commander nor I had brought along our usual Collector Assault Rifles; they'd be too conspicuous and they were the furthest thing from a typical merc weapon. A few surviving mercs tried to turn around and fire at us, but fire from Jacob's X76, Kasumi's X12 Locust, Mordin's X8 and a shot from Zaeed's X92 Mantis finished them off.

Russell then pounded up the stairs as we followed suit, and he opened fire on a merc, killing him as he tossed a warp bolt at another who was working on getting the door to Archangel's sniper perch, vaporizing the poor, clueless bastard. The last one was treated to an up-close-and-personal show of Jacob's biotic charge before my ex blew apart his sternum with a long burst from his LMG. "Well, I'm glad that I managed to talk that kid out of this."I muttered, shaking my head at the red smears that now painted the walls.

"_Yo! Is this where I sign up?"A young man who looked barely eighteen asked us as we were about to leave the room. "Yeah, but you barely look old enough to drink and get laid, let alone rush into combat."Russell remarked, all of us turning to look at the boy as he grumbled something under his breath._

"_I'm old enough! I grew up on Omega! I know how to use a gun!"He protested, waving his X8 around, and I noted that his finger was __**not**__ on the trigger guard and I sighed. "Yeah. You know enough to get yourself killed son."Zaeed grunted as I sighed. "Hey, I'm not a kid anymore! I can't handle my-"I interrupted him in mid-tirade as I snatched his rifle away. _

"_Hey what do you-" "Trust me kid. Go return this rifle and get a refund. Also, here's 200 creds to get dead drunk."I replied as I slapped a credit chit I took off a dead merc and his now-decommissioned rifle onto his chest._

"Not bad at all!"Russell chuckled as we headed towards the shuttle bay.

Kasumi hacked the door open and we stormed in to see a turian in blue and silver armor standing there and taking aim with an X97 Viper sniper rifle. "Archangel?"The Commander asked him as he gave us a wait signal before firing his rifle once and taking out a merc. Once he was satisfied that the merc was dead, he turned around to face us and he took his helmet off.

"Garrus you dumb bastard! I had a feeling it was you."Russell grinned as he engaged Archangel (or Garrus Vakarian, former C-Sec cop, Spectre dropout and former crewmember of Russell's) in what was colloquially known as a brohug.

"Shepard. You're alive. How is that possible?"Garrus asked as Russell grinned and spread his arms wide. "Well, Miss Super-Unbelievably-Hot-Chick-With-Awesome-And-Oh-So-Real-D-Cup-Breasts-And-With-The-Intellect-Of-A-Genius over there ran a project for Cerberus to revive me so I can stop the Collectors…and by extension the Reapers."The Spectre replied, gesturing at me as I ground my teeth and let out a long, irritated sigh.

"I see…"Garrus murmured as he let his eyes roam over my body, but I shot him one of my icy 'ogle at me and I will castrate you' glares and he immediately looked back to Shepard. "So why are you here?"The turian asked.

"We're here to recruit you for our mission against the Collectors. I'll tell you more later since we seem to have some merc problems here. By the way…what's with the name 'Archangel'?"Russell replied as Garrus grinned in embarrassment.

"Heh…the locals gave me that name after all the good deeds I did with my team. It kind of stuck after awhile…but please, it's just Garrus to you."The turian sniper chuckled as he re-shouldered his sniper rifle.

"Speaking of your team, what happened here?"Russell asked as he nodded towards a row of 4 body bags.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you more later. But for now, we need to get out of here."

"Let's blow some mercs up. Hang on…got LOKIs…looks like Eclipse property…oops."Russell chuckled as he took them down with his X29 Incisor.

"Nice rifle Shepard. What is that?"Garrus asked as he loaded up his Viper. "This? Oh it's an X29 Incisor. Awesome top of the line shit straight from Cerberus' R&D division. By the way, patch your com into RF Baker223. That's the frequency we're on."Russell grinned as he turned to us.

"Miranda, you take Jacob, Mordin and Kasumi downstairs while Zaeed and I will have a hunting session with Garrus up here."Shepard instructed as I nodded and beckoned for them to follow me downstairs.

Just as we reached the front area of the complex, I heard Russell, Garrus and Zaeed firing their sniper rifles and I zoomed in with my Sentry Interface visor to see what was going on. The Eclipse were beginning their assault, and I motioned for my team to take cover and wait till the mercs came closer to our position. We ended up waiting for nearly ten minutes (yes, that's how brutally effective the three snipers were) before an asari vanguard and three human mercs came to what I judged to be within range. I didn't even have to say a word, all I had to do was to fling a warp bolt to vaporize the vanguard's biotic barriers whilst firing my rifle, and my team automatically followed suit, laying waste to the ragtag little party of mercs.

In all honesty, we didn't have much to do except to kill a few mercs who were lucky enough not to get shot by the sniping trio on the floor above. However, that all changed when the Eclipse sent out the YMIR Kasumi hacked, and at the exact same moment, we heard an almighty boom that shook the ground beneath us.

"What the bloody hell was that?"I asked as Garrus sounded in over the net.

"Damn it! Looks like the Blood Pack have breached the lower levels! Well, it had to happen sooner or later…"Garrus muttered as Russell's voice crackled in my earpiece over the sounds of gunfire.

"Miranda! Take your team downstairs and deal with it! We'll be fine up here, given that the mech is currently killing its own people."The Commander ordered as I complied, taking one last glance back to the bridge to see that the YMIR was mowing down the hapless mercs like blades of grass before a lawnmower.

We hurried downstairs, grabbing some thermal clips out of an ammo locker on the way there. There were three open entrances, and the middle one quickly slammed shut thanks to Jacob biotically charging to the control panel and releasing the emergency shutter close lever before he overloaded the controls with his omnitool, permanently keeping the door shut. There were still two doors to close, and I mentally flipped a coin and picked the left entrance to handle.

"Jacob, Kasumi, you two go right into the garage and get the shutter closed! Mordin, you're with me for the left one!"I hollered as I ran to the left side, which was a service conduit full of pipes and not much else. Mordin faithfully followed behind me as he killed some Blood Pack vorchas with an incinerating plasma jet from his omnitool and some fire from his rifle as I tagged a few myself with both my gunfire and biotics.

We then ran into a trio of flamethrower wielding vorcha and we soon found ourselves pinned behind cover. Just as we dove behind cover, we heard Shepard yell "I got him! Jaroth is down! I repeat, Jaroth is down!" into the radio as I tried to remember where I'd heard that name before. It hit me within a second that Jaroth was the head of ops for Eclipse's branch on Omega, and he was on a Cerberus hitlist of potential candidates for assassination due to his anti-human stance and the fact that he'd stolen a considerable amount of eezo from a Cerberus shipment once. Despite the fact that such a hitlist existed, there was absolutely no intent to make good on that list…yet. We were just waiting to see if any of the few hundred would get out of line and begin to cause problems for both Cerberus and humanity, then we would go in and clean them up.

Mordin blindfired over the stack of sewer pipes that protected us from the flamethrowers of the vorcha as I turned to him. "Professor, can you set up a snake-cam feed from your scope to my visor?"I yelled as he blinked in agreement.

"Of course I can do that Officer Lawson. You are going to overload their fuel tanks, yes?"He rattled rapidly, doing just that as I nodded. A few seconds later, I could see where the vorcha were and after estimating their positions, I raised my left arm above over and zapped one of them, blowing him up and setting off a sympathetic detonation that eliminated the other two. As soon as that happened, both Mordin and I sprung up from behind our cover and cut down the remaining vorcha as we hustled to the entryway. As we did, two Krogan battlemasters, along with a dozen vorcha and four varren appeared at the opposite end of the hallway, and we made even more haste, trying to get to the entryway before they did.

I yanked the emergency shutter close lever hard, cutting the enemy squad off as I overloaded the circuitry with my omnitool just as Jacob reported in to advise us that he had accomplished his task. "Uh, guys, I need y'all to get back up here _now_. Garm is bringing a shitload of his pals with him, and we couldn't stop him from getting to the front door!"Russell chimed in over the net as Mordin and I sprinted back towards Russell and linked up with Jacob and Kasumi on the way back.

When we came out of the basement, we all saw that Russell wasn't kidding. "Uh-oh, too many mercs! Problematic!"Mordin warned as we began to fire upon the vorcha and krogan that remained as a rearguard on the first floor. Garm and his five krogan companions didn't even notice us as they trundled up the stairs, dead set on facing Garrus and killing him. Unfortunately for them, I was not about to allow that to happen. If that were to happen, it would have to be over my cold, dead and very curvaceous body.

The rearguard on the first floor were relatively easily dispatched with a copious amount of our accurate fire, combined with some of Kasumi's cloaked backstabs, Mordin's incinerating plasma jets, Jacob's shockwaves and my warp bolts. The krogan were tough, but they weren't the smartest mercs in the building as they continually charged my team's positions, allowing either Jacob or I to trap them in a biotic pull field before we finished them off at our leisure. "Hey are you done with the idiots on the ground floor? We need backup here, _stat_!"Russell roared as the sounds of gunfire raged above us.

"Got it! Backup's on the way!"I yelled back, sprinting up the stairs and into the room, where I saw that two of Garm's goons were lying on the floor, dead and not in a single piece. However, Garm was still going strong, and so were his remaining three friends. Jacob tossed a warp at one of Garm's henchmen, blasting a huge chunk of his armor off so that Mordin and Kasumi could roast the krogan with a plasma jet and some gunfire. Russell was occupied with a krogan, and I flung a warp bolt at him, destroying his armor and letting Russell nail him with a headshot from his X15. I killed the other with another warp bolt and a long burst from my X8.

Garm noticed that he was the only one left, and he went into a blood rage and charged Shepard, who was reloading and could only stare but not get out of the way as Garm was too close..._ No! Protect Project Lazarus at all costs! I can't lose him and fail the Illusive Man! _I thoughtin a panic as I threw myself in his path, readying my biotics for a biotic punch. "Shepard! Get out of the way!"I screamed just as I crashed into the krogan and I punched him. Garm stumbled, and as he did so, he trampled upon my ankle at an angle, effectively shattering it.

I screamed in pain as I landed on the ground hard, and Garm landed some distance away from me as Russell rushed over to my aid while everyone else poured lead on Garm and eventually killed him. "Hey Miranda, thanks for taking that charge for me. You shouldn't have."Russell smiled reassuringly at me while examining my ankle with his omnitool.

"I would do it again, Shepard. He was about to knock you out of that window and into the void below. You would've died, Project Lazarus would've failed, and we'd lose any chance we have of stopping the Collectors."I replied, hissing loudly when Mordin, who was now tending to me, set my ankle with an aluminum rod from his medkit before he injected some medigel into the localized area.

"I have set your ankle Officer Lawson. But will have to return to Normandy for further treatment ASAP. Medigel should numb the pain till then. Stay out of the fight."Mordin informed me as he sat me down in one of the couches in a lounging position.

"With all due respect Professor, that isn't going to happen."I growled as I leaned back against the armrest, my rifle at the ready. Mordin just looked at Russell, who gave me a 'not bad' look.

"Okay then Miranda. Think we should go now Garrus?"Russell asked the turian, who was about to answer when we heard the distinctive hum of an A61 Mantis gunship just outside.

"Archangel! You're dead, you fucking pain in the ass!"Tarak's voice roared over the gunship's loudspeakers as he fired a salvo of missiles. Most of them hit the reinforced concrete walls of the structure, but one sailed in through the window and detonated _very _close to Garrus' position, flinging him to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"Garrus! Shit!"Russell roared as we heard more Blue Suns gunships approach us and they unloaded the mercs inside. The mercs rappelled in through the windows, but didn't stand much of a chance as we fired at them, killing many of them as they tried to unholster their rifles or shotguns. This continued for a good ten minutes before the merc assault slackened due to the fact that my team and I had already killed and/or wounded literally hundreds of them.

I shot a female merc with a ML77 rocket launcher to death and I used my biotics to bring her launcher to me. I grabbed it and checked it to make sure there was ammunition in the launcher before I hefted it to my shoulder and began firing at the Blue Suns gunships, taking out two of them before a burst of fire forced me down. I peered over the backrest of the sofa to see that it was Jentha, the female Blue Suns lieutenant who briefed us when Tarak chased us away, who had fired at me. She was accompanied by a senior turian engineer and two regular mercs with rifles, and my team and I began firing at them, forcing them to dive for cover. One of the mercs didn't make it, thanks to a shot from Zaeed's sniper rifle which cut cleanly through his chest, leaving a gaping hole where his heart was supposed to be.

The turian tried to advance upon me, but a broad-area overload attack from Kasumi which fired his shields convinced him otherwise. That and the fact that I tossed him out of the window like a ragdoll with my biotics, sending him plunging hundreds of stories to his very messy demise.

The last male merc was killed by Russell's rifle fire, and Jentha attempted to retreat, but there was to be no quarter given to the mercs today. I emptied my thermal clip at her, ripping through her shields and hitting her in the back of her head, instantly killing her as she slumped to the floor.

"I don't know who you fuckers are, but you'll die like animals today!"Tarak thundered over the gunship's loudhailer as I checked my 'borrowed' rocket launcher. Five more rockets left…if I didn't miss, I'd take it down. Normally, it would be near impossible to destroy a gunship with five rockets, but given that Russell, Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi were firing away at it, it was possible now. I propped the launcher against my shoulder and waited for a solid lock before firing at the gunship. The first three rockets hit, but one inexplicably went veering wildly off course and the last one got shot down.

"Dammit!"I hissed in frustration through clenched teeth before I ducked back down due to the gunship exploding. When I tentatively peeked above the backrest of the sofa, I saw a huge fireball below us, and a fading biotic glow around Russell, who was striding towards me purposefully as he inhaled deeply.

"Hey beautiful. Thanks for distracting him with your rocket launcher so that I could take his engines out with a warp."He grinned reassuringly at me as I shrugged. Hell, I was just doing my job after all. Nothing special that I should be thanked for, as a matter of fact.

"While I appreciate the thanks, I don't see the need for you to thank me. I was just doing my job."I replied as I tossed the now empty launcher over the backrest of the couch before I switched to my rifle and popped the spent clip out before slipping a new one back in. Even though it was clear, you can never be too sure about things like whether or not a half-dead merc is going to pull a heroic last stand and gun you down, or if there was someone who'd been hiding in a corner, terrified, but he/she finally grew some bollocks and decided to charge you in a blaze of glory.

"Hey guys, the Kodiak is here on the roof. Let's get to it."Jacob informed us as he helped Mordin ease Garrus onto a hover-stretcher that Mordin brought along with himself.

"Okay. Jacob, you're on point. Kasumi, you guide that stretcher while Mordin and Zaeed are on rearguard duty. I'll be right behind that stretcher carrying Miranda."Russell instructed us as I sat up straight and began to protest.

"Shepard, I don't need to be carried like a little baby!"I protested in indignation as Jacob and Zaeed shared knowing smirks as they took up their positions. If I didn't have this bloody broken ankle, I'd gladly go over to where they were and slap those sickening, lecherous grins off their faces.

"Look, you assisted me with Garm," Russell said as he gestured at Garm's still smoldering corpse, courtesy of Jacob's Inferno rounds (which he custom made himself) "so let me help you. You're obviously too badly injured to walk, so I'm carrying you."Russell sighed as I shifted on the couch, trying to avoid his arms and prevent him from carrying me, much like Mr. Skittles, my cat back at my main residence on the Presidium, would whenever I tried to pick him up.

He scooped me up in his arms and lifted me off the couch in one smooth motion despite my protests. "Shepard, let me down! I can bloody well walk dammit!"I cursed as he just looked at me and sighed as we began moving to the shuttle.

"Miranda, I know it's a bit humbling for you to get carried, but now is _not _the time for blind pride. Your ankle is broken, probably shattered from that damn krogan's stomp, which basically means that you can't walk. So quit protesting and let me help you, okay?"The Commander exhaled as we plodded up the stairs to the roof.

"Fine. Well, I suppose I should thank you then."I huffed in resignation as he just grunted in acknowledgement as he stepped into the shuttle before laying me down gently on a seat before turning around to check on Garrus.

"Hey sister, you all right there? Ego still intact?"Kasumi giggled as she slid into the seat next to me, earning an irritated glare from me as she raised her hands in mock surrender while still giggling. She then bent down and checked my ankle, which was still swathed in a bandage with a splint attached to it, before wincing in pain.

"Damn, that looks really bad. Hey, have one of these, it helps with the pain."Kasumi beamed at me as she offered up a small silver foil wrapped package that contained something round inside.

"What is that? Some painkiller? Looks massive for a painkiller pill."I mumbled as I inspected the object in her hand as she giggled once more.

"No silly, it's a macha mochi I made myself!"The Japanese thief replied, smiling broadly as I tried to recall what a macha was.

"Thanks. It's a Japanese snack made out of rice flour with a sweet green tea filling, right? Not many people know how to make it these days."I asked as I accepted the package and opened it to see that the macha was a dull green in color.

"Yup, got it in one. I actually stole the recipe from one of my aunts, who runs a Japanese sweets shop in Washington D.C. back on Earth."Kasumi whispered conspiratorially as I smiled and rolled my eyes. Well, it was pretty much expected that she'd steal the recipe from her aunt instead of just asking for it.

I bit into it, and the nicely sweet, pleasant taste of the green tea filling filled my senses as I nodded in approval. "Mmm, this is rather delectable. You made a really good decision to steal your aunt's recipe."I praised Kasumi as she smiled shyly.

"Well, I'm glad you like it so much."She replied coyly as she began to ogle at Jacob, a fact which didn't slip my eye. As I silently finished Kasumi's mochi, I noticed Shepard coming over to me with a goofy grin on his face as I mentally sighed at the inevitable stupidity that would follow soon after.

"Hey looks like Miss Lawson's making some friends today."He grinned at me as I swallowed down the last of the dessert before regarding him coldly.

"Not with you though. So mind your own business and your injured friend."I snapped at him as he winced while Jacob mimed a machinegun being fired before Zaeed added in with the sound effect of a very old 21st century plane plummeting to the ground after being severely damaged and the subsequent explosion.

"Shot down!"Jacob chuckled along with Zaeed as Shepard slunk back to Garrus' side in defeat, making me smile thinly at finally being able to beat back his irritating attempts at building a relationship that went beyond superior officer and subordinate.

The shuttle was quiet throughout the whole trip back save for an occasional bout of murmuring between the men or between Mordin and Shepard as the salarian continued his vigil over the badly wounded turian as we headed back to the Normandy. It was fine by me as I began drafting the after-action report which I would send to the Illusive Man later on my omnitool. Just as I was about to enter the third paragraph, Russell sat down beside me and laid his hand on my shoulder as I looked up at him inquisitively.

"Hey Miranda, how's your ankle holding up?"He asked as he examined my ankle for a few seconds before I gently and gingerly reclaimed my foot from his grasp.

"I'm fine thank you. Is he going to make it?"I asked, gesturing at the turian on the stretcher as I saved and closed my report, knowing full well that I wasn't going to be getting back to it anytime soon.

"He is, but we don't know if he'll still have his vision intact. We've got to get him to medbay stat. Oh and by the way, we're heading over to Alchera next. Joker says that we'll be there in two and a half days."Russell replied as I just nodded.

"Of course Commander. Take all the time you need to mourn your fallen crew."I replied as I caught a flicker of something…_dangerous_ (?) in his eyes. I have no idea why, but I felt fully compelled to go down to the crash site of the SSV Normandy with him. Perhaps it was because I was constantly frustrated that I couldn't get a read on him, which has _never_ happened to me before, and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the real Commander Russell Patrick Shepard when he was at his weakest moment. But the only thing I knew then was that I wanted to go with him.

We felt a familiarly welcome jolt as we docked inside the Normandy's cargo and shuttle bay. The doors swung open to reveal Doctor Chakwas and the four Cerberus medical interns waiting there with a gurney and a wheelchair. We waited for the interns and Mordin to transfer Garrus off the stretcher and onto the gurney before we began disembarking. Kasumi got off alongside Zaeed, and Jacob followed closely behind. I stood up, but I was suddenly swept off my feet and into someone's arms as a gasp of both surprise and indignation escaped my lips.

I turned my head back to see that Russell was carrying me in his arms and my scowl immediately returned in full force. "Shepard, let me down this instant! I can bloody walk to that wheelchair!"I fumed as he just glanced down at me with a mildly amused expression. The cheek of that bastard! Smiling at me with an _amused _expression. Oh the things I was going to do to him when my ankle healed, which would probably be no later than a fortnight…

"Um, no you can't. Why is it so bloody hard for you to accept help? Can't you just stow your ego away and let someone help you for once?"He sighed as he carried me into the elevator, attracting the curious stare of Crewman Rolston, the primary shuttle pilot on the Normandy. I glared right back at him, and he quickly diverted his glance away from me and pretended to be working on something. Small consolation for what the big idiot who was cradling me in him arms like a baby was putting me through.

"It's _not_ my ego Shepard! There is a proper code of behavior for the XO of a ship, and being carried like a baby is _definitely not _the proper code of behavior! Now let me down!"I hissed back in exasperation as he stepped into the lift with me still in his arms.

"No. What a load of bullshit that was, hiding the fact that I was damaging your ego behind formalities."He snorted as I opened my mouth to retort and chew him out for his complete douchebaggery, but he just shook his head and said "Uh-uh, you will not retort and you will just enjoy the ride."

Son of a bitch…I swear, I am going to _kill_ this _bastard _in the most painful ways imaginable once the Collectors were eliminated…

So we stepped out of the elevator on the third deck in complete silence, but with me stewing with barely restrained rage. He then walked me into the medbay, where one of the interns, Parkinson, was waiting. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of me being carried, but she soon averted her eyes once I glared at her.

"Hey there Parkinson. I'll leave Miss Lawson in your care."Russell said as he gingerly laid me on one of the beds before turning to leave, getting an "Aye-aye sir" from the chestnut-haired intern.

"Shepard, wait! Is it okay if I went with you to Alchera? …You know, just to pay my respects."I lied lamely as he turned around and considered my request for a few seconds.

"Of course Miranda, you're welcome to visit Alchera with me. By the way, I know you want to try and see if there's another side of me you missed, but I don't give a damn. I'd like for you to come with me to see the original Normandy."The Commander replied, leaving the medbay as I just stared at him with my mouth slightly agape. How in hell did he know? He knew almost _fucking everything_ about me and my motives, yet I didn't know him and his motives beyond what was already publicized in at least six different places.

Hopefully, I could find something to use to read him, or at the very least, use against him down on Alchera. Oh, revenge would be _so _sweet.

**A/N: If you think Russell is a total douche here, wait till you see the next chapter! Once again, please review. It satisfies my insatiable lust for reviews and makes me somewhat less of a review whore…for about three hours. :P Bye guys and see you soon!**

XOXOKatherineXOXO


	5. Memories

**Author's Notes: Hi again dear fanfic community! I'm sorry you guys had to wait a bajillion years for this update, but my gaming induced coma was too much for me to handle! The first two readers to spot the Chuck references in this story get over 9000 internet cookiez! Anyways, here we go once more, and enjoy! Love y'all!**

I was hurrying down to the shuttle bay as fast as I could in my hoverchair once I heard Joker announce that the ship was an hour away from Alchera, which was positively identified as the crash site of the original SSV Normandy, and was the final resting place of Commander Russell Patrick Shepard until some of the Shadow Broker's agents found him.

I quickly slipped out of my catsuit (no mean feat considering that my left most of my lower left leg and half my foot was in a bulky cast) and got into my custom made Cerberus shock armor as fast as I could, setting the helmet onto my lap as I went out of my office and down to the shuttle bay.

When I reached, Russell was already there in his armor and was unarmed save for the S5 Phalanx on his hip, his N7 helmet casually cradled in the crook of his right arm. "Hey Miranda, glad to see you made it. Terrain scans of the crash site indicate that it's uneven as hell, so are you sure your hoverchair can handle those rises and drops in elevation?" Russell smiled nonchalantly as I maneuvered my chair to the shuttle.

"I have complete confidence in this hoverchair Shepard. As a matter of fact, it was developed as a joint venture by both Cord-Hislop Aerospace and Sirta Foundation, and won't be available to the mass market for a few more months. It's a much more advanced hoverchair developed specially for those who need a hoverchair that can handle all terrains." I informed him as he nodded in approval.

"And if I recall correctly, both are Cerberus front companies right?" Russell asked.

"Oh my goodness, all that intel on you never indicated that you were intelligent enough to read. I am absolutely amazed."I feigned surprise as he stiffened up.

"Hey! That ain't fair." 

"Oh but it is Shepard. Now let's get onboard the shuttle and stop your whining." I smirked at him as I boarded the shuttle with him in tow.

It was a relatively quiet twenty minute ride down to the crash site with a huge metal box sharing the crew compartment with us, and for some reason I couldn't fathom, Russell kept sneaking glances at it. I only vaguely remembered taking this box aboard two days ago just before we left Omega, but it was just indicated upon the inventory list as 'Item 380094MA756CV', and whenever I tried to interact with the bloody blasted hunk of metal to find out what exactly it was, it just would _not_ respond.

I asked Russell what it was, but he just flashed me one of his infuriatingly charming smiles before responding with a nonchalant "Don't get your cute panties in a twist Miranda, you'll find out once we get to Alchera."

Oh what _nerve _he had to talk to me like that!

The shuttle jolted as it made the final descent before landing, and Russell and I snapped out of our respective thoughts as we finally landed. "Helmets on Miranda."Russell ordered as we both donned our helmets and secured them to our hardsuits, waiting till we both heard the signature hiss of the helmet fully sealing itself to the hardsuit, fully protecting us from all hostile elements before the Commander opened the shuttle door to reveal a snowy wasteland outside.

Just as Russell was about to hop off the shuttle, I yanked him back when I saw a bright metallic glint in the pool of water that had formed from the heat of the shuttle's thrusters. "Watch it Shepard, you nearly stepped on something!"

"Wha…oh. A dogtag. Talitha Draven…oh! Ensign Draven! She was a nervous, mousy little blonde who almost cried the first time I talked to her." Russell chuckled as her recollected the now deceased owner of the dogtag.

"Well with a face like yours, it's obvious why." I replied airily as I disembarked from the shuttle as Russell could only go "Hey, that ain't fair."

I began to move around the icy wasteland slowly in my hoverchair, setting my omnitool to locate any nearby dogtags as I surveyed the site. About six hundred and twenty metres opposite our LZ was what was left of the first Normandy's CIC, and amazingly enough, the tactical galaxy map appeared to be mostly intact, save for a broken handrail on the right side. Just fifty metres behind us was a huge section of the Normandy's hull that had broken off from the rest of it, and amazingly enough, it still bore the name 'Normandy' in crisp white paint.

Everywhere else was strewn with a massive amount of debris from the ship's hull, and some loose cargo that miraculously survived reentry into Alchera's atmosphere. I suppressed a shudder at what Russell must've felt as he struggled to reattach the ruptured breather tube back into his armor. Helplessly floating around in space and watching as his command blew up in a fiery conflagration of metal and armor composite as he watched himself hurtle towards Alchera's icy surface and certain death…a sudden beeping from my omnitool snapped me out of my thoughts as I leaned down to pick up the dogtag that caused my omnitool to go off. Hmm…it belonged to a certain deceased Serviceman 3rd Class Marcus Grieco. Maybe I'd ask Shepard about him a bit later to see what he remembered about Grieco.

I decided to go look for Russell lest the idiot somehow got himself into trouble (nearly impossible here, but who knew with him?), and turned my chair around to go find him. It took under less than a minute, even when pausing to pick up another three dogtags my omnitool detected, to find him smashing a crate open with his biotics before rummaging through the pile of debris it left behind.

"Shepard, what are you doing?"

"Looking for anything salvageable Miranda. I-oh, a dogtag. Hmm…Junior Engineer Carlton Tucks. Oh, the big dude." Russell smiled weakly in fond remembrance as I pressed the dogtags I found against his armored chest.

"I just found the dogtags of Servicewoman 1st Class Caroline Grenado, Corporal Raymond Tanaka and Service Chief Addison Chase. Here you go Shepard." I informed him as he gently took the dogtags from me.

"Thanks Miranda. All the good people lost here…"

"This gives us even more incentive to stop the Collectors Shepard." I replied as I picked up a sealed box of eezo and placed it on my lap so that we could take it back to the Normandy. Upon seeing that I put the box of eezo upon my lap, Russell then proceeded to retrieve another five boxes of eezo and set them down upon my lap.

"Excuse me _Commander_! I am _not_ a trolley for you to dump all your knick-knacks into!" I burst in outrage as he just turned to me and smile-no, the little _bastard smirked_ at me. Yes, Commander Russell bloody Shepard just _fucking smirked_ at me!

"Well Miranda, I figured that since you were already carrying one box back to the shuttle, you could help me do the same for the other five-"

"I am your _second in command_ you dimwit, not your maid who's going to babysit you like the big, overgrown baby that you are!" I ranted at the idiot who was my in charge.

"Come on Miranda, help me out here. Counting the four dogtags you've found in addition to the ones I've found, there's only twelve dogtags. Which means that I've gotta go find the other eight. Off you go now, and thanks Miranda." He waved as he jumped off the icy plateau he was on and he just sauntered off, leaving me spluttering in protest.

I hated to admit it, but he made some sense. "That cheeky bastard…I swear to God that I'll get him _someday_." I growled to myself as I headed back to the shuttle and deposited the six boxes of eezo in the cabin before going off to explore the crash site.

I whizzed past the Normandy's Mako which was now stuck firmly headfirst into a huge chunk of ice, looking for Commander Shepard. I found him seated upon the raised platform of the galaxy map and chuckling to himself as he read from a datapad. I snuck up on him and got a good look at what he was reading before he noticed that I was right next to him.

"You had a xenophobe on the crew?" I asked him as he shook his head.

"No, god no! Pressly definitely wasn't a xenophobe by any measure, but he was quite distrustful of aliens given that his granddad was a Service Chief on Shanxi during First Contact. He was actually more distrustful of aliens than Ashley Williams, but he eventually got over it. Never knew he kept a diary." Russell chuckled in fond memory before his smile dropped and his demeanor became solemn.

"We generally learn more about people after they pass away as compared to when they're alive." I offered as Russell looked at me and nodded.

"True. We're only human, and we've all got skeletons in the closet. It's just that some of us have more than others. Come on, we should go find the remaining three dogtags." He replied grimly, standing up and walking towards me.

"Hang on Shepard, I see boots sticking out from beneath that metal panel over there!" I urged as Russell turned to look at where I was pointing.

"It's just boots Miranda-"

"Look closer and you can see a pair of trousers still attached to the boots Shepard!" I huffed exasperatedly as he did as I instructed.

"You're right-it could be a corpse! Come help me!" He beckoned as I followed after him as we drew closer to the huge chunk of composite armor and we both called upon our biotics and lifted it off.

Russell's and my suspicions were right; it was indeed a corpse, fully intact (save for the metal rebar sticking out of her chest) due to it being encased into a thin layer of ice from the planet's atmosphere as well as the fact that the corpse was encased between the metal hull and a piece of composite armor. "She's Monica. What a pity." Russell sighed as he gazed upon the dead brunette's features before he reached down to gently chip away at the flimsy layer of ice that covered her corpse before closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, who was she?" I asked.

"She was Servicewoman 2nd Class Monica Negulesco. She was in charge of ship diagnostics and she really kept the crew's morale up when we were on the hunt for Saren. I guess her family will have some closure now."

"I see. How old was she?" I asked quietly as Russell paused to recall.

"She was thirty one and had a husband six years older than her, and a pair of twins, one boy and one girl who'll both be five this year. Looks like they'll have a body to bury and they'll know that Monica died bravely." The Commander sighed sadly as he gingerly carried the body.

"Miranda, could you please help me search for the last two dogtags while I place Monica's remains in the shuttle?" He asked with genuine mourning and-was that _anger_ in his eyes?

"Definitely Commander. Take your time." I reassured him as we split up, and I headed to the last section of wreckage that I still hadn't explored while he went off to the shuttle to place the corpse and I heard him radioing for the crew aboard the Normandy to prep a preserver unit for our return.

I reached the last section of the ship and found that it was part of the mess hall. There was still a massive central table bolted down in its original place, amazingly enough, and there were a few chairs lying around in various states, ranging from nearly obliterated to intact. My omnitool began beeping and it peaked out in front of a table that was overturned, but I saw nothing. Surmising that the dogtag was wedged under the table, I used my biotics to flip the table aside and spotted the elusive dogtag that was formerly the property of Serviceman 1st Class Jamin Bakari.

"Okay Miri, last dogtag…hurry it up girl, you're starting to feel the chill…" I muttered to myself as I guided my hoverchair towards the direction my omnitool indicated and finally found the dogtag wedged tightly between the floor and a collapsed rebar that was once part of the ship's hull. Once again, I flared up my biotics and moved the rebar aside to free up the last dogtag. However, it was just outside of my reach, which was extremely infuriating. "Damn it!" I cursed in frustration as my armored fingers just brushed against the dogtag as I leaned forward to try and grab it.

Suddenly, I fell from my chair and landed facefirst in the snow. Cursing under my breath, I grabbed the troublesome dogtag and prepared to stand, but I suddenly felt arms snake under my prone form and bodily lift me up, shifting to support my buttocks before depositing me in my chair gently. I looked up to see Russell looking down at me with a concerned look. "You alright Miranda?"He asked as I nodded.

"I'm fine Shepard; it was just a very minor fall. By the way, here's the last dogtag that was formerly Service Chief Harvey Gladstone's, and here's Serviceman 1st Class Jamin Bakari's dogtag. We can go now…unless you want to stay here a little to remember…yeah." I finished lamely as I began to mentally kick myself. What the hell did I just add in the last part for? We recovered all the dogtags, and in addition to that, we even recovered a (mostly) intact corpse. Our job here was pretty much done, so why in the blue bloody hell did I just ask Shepard if he wanted to stay a little longer? It was _freezing_!

"Thank you for the concern Miranda, I would just like about ten minutes more to remember the fallen. Also, I really want to thank you for going to such great lengths to recover all these dogtags. You really didn't have to Miranda, and I truly appreciate that." He said softly before he leaned in and touched our helmets together while caressing the back of my helmet with his right hand.

I was suddenly dumbstruck by his actions, and my blush would've been so bright it would've lit up half the planet. He just silently continued to do this for a minute before he broke away and cleared his throat. Goddammit Miranda Chloe Lawson, you've seduced so many men and even had sex with a few without so much as blushing. Now an adorable, _adorable_ idiot of a Commander comes along and bumps helmets and you blush like a shy schoolgirl. Get your act together for the love of God! Just unbelievable!

"I'm sorry Miranda. I shouldn't have done that." Russell apologized as he looked away awkwardly, digging his boots into the snow as I finally regained my voice.

"It's alright Shepard; we'll just forget that ever happened. Getting back on topic, I felt it completely necessary to get those dogtags for you. It's my job to assist you in every way possible as your second in Command."I cleared my throat as he coughed.

"Well, thank you then Miranda. I just need to place the monument before we go." Russell informed me as he walked beside me as we headed back to the shuttle.

"Shepard, what monument? You mean it's in the huge metal crate sitting in the shuttle?"

"Not in Miranda, but it _is _the crate itself. Just watch and be awed." He chuckled as we reached the shuttle and he boarded to retrieve the monument, but he couldn't lift it up despite his best efforts. I sighed and raised my hand, calling upon my biotics to lift the monument.

"You do know that you have biotics, and you can use them to help you lift this up right?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and my head tilted to one side as he chuckled in embarrassment.

"Heh, didn't think of that. Thanks Miranda." Russell grunted as he moved the box to its final destination as I followed him in my hoverchair, keeping my biotics steady as I assisted him in moving the box.

Finally, he set it down some distance away from the huge chunk of hull of the Normandy SR1 and set it down. "Looks perfect, don't you think? The monument goes here right in front of the remains of the outer hull that still has the name on it." Russell said bitterly as he set it down before keying some instructions into the small command pad on the monument, and just like a child's transforming toy, the monument emerged from the crate and assembled itself right in front of our eyes with the distinctive soft hiss of hydraulics. Finally, it stopped the transformation process to reveal that it was actually a statue of the Normandy SR1 mounted atop a curve, signifying the flight of the original Normandy.

"It's rather poignant." I remarked as Russell stood there staring at it.

"It is, isn't it? It's the very least the people who perished here deserve. C'mon, let's get back to the Normandy." The Commander sighed as he began walking back to the shuttle as I followed suit. We boarded and the hatch hissed shut before we lifted off, heading back to the Normandy. Halfway through the twenty minute ride, my omnitool beeped urgently and I looked at the sender. It was Cerberus Ops Control, and the message was marked as Alpha priority, meaning that it required my immediate attention. I opened the message and read through it quickly under Russell's curious gaze before turning to him while taking my helmet off.

"Shepard, could we head to Lorek in the Fathar system? There's a Cerberus deep cover operative that's been abducted by Eclipse mercs. Cerberus intel suggests that he's being held in an Eclipse base on that planet, and they'd appreciate it if we rescued him. Okeer can wait a little bit, right?" I requested, purposely putting that little lilt of huskiness, that little hint of flirting, in my voice that got many men, women and asari to do as I wished.

"Well, we could do that, but you'll have to ask me again and address me by my first name this time." Russell grinned as he removed his helmet and set it down beside him before leaning back into his seat with his fingers laced behind his head. I sucked in a soft, indignant breath at his utterly stupid request before smiling at him, realizing that he had essentially agreed.

"Well Russell, could we head to Lorek to extract the abducted operative please?" I asked again in an even sultrier tone of voice as Russell nodded and stretched out on his seat.

"Yes Miranda. I'll tell Joker to set a course for Lorek immediately when we reach the Normandy." The Commander agreed as we fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride back to the Normandy.

When we disembarked, Russell carried out Monica's corpse and gently placed it in the preserver which was already on standby and was being attended to by Dr Chakwas while I headed to the lift and called it down.

Just as the lift doors opened, Russell strode in and hit the pad for the CIC deck just a little too hard before I selected the Crew Deck. "Shepard, here are the dogtags." I offered, passing the dogtags to him as he just mumbled out a quiet 'thanks' before the lift stopped and I exited it, heading back to my office, but not before I picked up a cup of hot chocolate from Gardner at the mess. The minute I entered my room, I locked the door and began stripping out of my armor and back into my Cerberus catsuit before I sat back down and unlocked the door while heading back to my terminal.

Upon opening up the terminal, a new message notification appeared and I clicked on it to find that it was a message from Special Operative Carina Carmichael, who was assigned to protect and discreetly observe Oriana and her family. There was a video file attached to the message and the message read:

_Miranda,_

_Oriana recently graduated from high school with straight As in all of her thirteen subjects. She's currently planning a career in colony planning, and thus, she's eyeing the Financing and Management for Pioneer Colonies course that the Devon F. Woodcomb University in Milgrom is offering. As her older sister, I thought it only right that you knew about and witnessed this. I hope you're doing well on that secret mission of yours._

_Carina_

I played the video and smiled in pride as I watched my younger twin ascend to the stage to accept her Advanced Diploma and to give her speech. When it came to the final part where she thanked all those who supported her, she beamed radiantly and said "I'd like to thank my parents, my friends and my unknown guardian angel out there for all the support you've given to me!" as she waved to a loud round of applause from the audience before stepping off the stage.

I sat there in silence, stunned at how she knew that I was watching out for her. Wasn't I already discreet and anonymous enough with her? How the hell did she even know that someone was watching out for her? It's just a general remark Miranda, she doesn't know. She couldn't have. Now stop being so bloody paranoid! I thought to myself as I closed the video and took a sip of my hot chocolate and wondered what Carina was doing now. The redhead was two years older than I was but she still looked like she was no older than twenty five, and she joined Cerberus a couple of years before I did when they rescued her from a batarian slaver. She was my handler on my first mission, which I accomplished easily, and we ended up having a one night stand post-mission debriefing.

I loved Carina like a sister, but I had the distinct feeling that she was harboring genuine romantic feelings for me even though we had both agreed that the sex was a one off thing borne out of an adrenaline rush and too much asari wine. I was interrupted from my musings about Carina by my door sliding open and Russell striding in with that swagger of his. "Hey Miranda-oh a message. Lemme take a look." He hummed as he jumped over my table and stood in front of me, blocking all my limited avenues of approach to the terminal as he began to read the message much to my chagrin.

"You never mentioned having a younger sister Mira-" Russell began but I cut him off by roughly shoving him out of the way as I closed the message.

"I never did because you never asked. Besides, this is private." I scowled at him with my arms crossed as he smirked once more, taking a seat in one of the office chairs in front of my desk.

"In that case, tell me about yourself besides the fact that you're a sharpshooter, a biotic princess and an all round femme fatale."

"That's only fair given that I've spent the last two years learning everything there is to know about you. You should probably know that I've had extensive genetic modification. Not my decision, but I make the most of it. It's one of the reasons the Illusive Man handpicked me. I'm very good at just about anything I choose to do." I began, making sure to keep my tone neutral and let neither the pride nor the resentment I felt at my creation which Shepard did not need to know out of my voice.

"What level of genetic modding did you get?"

"It's very thorough. Physically, I'm superior in many ways. I heal quickly and I'll likely live half again as long as the average human. My biotic abilities are also very advanced...for a human. Add to that some of the best training and education money can buy and, well, it's pretty impressive, really."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're an arrogant, stuck up bitch with an overblown ego complex. However, you distinctly lack that overblown ego complex." Russell chuckled as I tilted my head to one side, regarding him coolly.

"It's just a fact, like it or not. My reflexes, my strength, even my looks - they're all designed to give me an edge, so there's no point in hiding from it. It's the reason I'm trusted to oversee the most dangerous, risky, and technically demanding operations Cerberus undertakes. And it's why I was assigned to you. It's my job to make sure you succeed, Shepard." I replied.

"How about family Miranda? Anyone else besides your sister?"

"Just my father and my sister. I never had a mother."

"I see…it definitely explains your distinct lack of patience around people, your lack of gentleness and grace in handling social situations, and your general snarkiness." Russell mulled.

"Really Shepard? You ask me all this just to drag me into a shit-slinging match?" I snapped at him as he snorted.

"Hell no, I was just saying. Anyways, I take it that your gene modding was forced upon you by your father and you resented him ever since for that. What about Oriana?"

"I do resent my father for forcing me to undergo all those excruciating procedures to make me near perfect, but Oriana was much luckier than I was. She never got any gene modifications nor biotic infusion procedures forced upon her. But that was a hell of a long time ago, and I've moved on." I replied, dodging the fact that I was essentially unnatural given that I was genetically engineered from the soles of my feet up and was born without any female involved in my birth.

"You're lying. You've never moved on, but then again, nobody ever does, do they?" Russell declared as he leaned forward in his seat with a disturbingly intense look and fire in his blue eyes that I have never seen before, startling me out of my planned retort.

A moment of silence passed before I cleared my throat. "Well Shepard, what about your family? I want to know more than just what's already been written somewhere about you."

"For starters, not many people know that I had a sister who was born three years earlier than I did but she died when she was just two. My mother and father were both grieved beyond belief, so when they had me, they really cherished me. So much so that when I wanted to join N7, my mom refused at first and my dad nearly got a heart attack." Russell chuckled at his recollection as he moved behind me and pushed my wheelchair next to my couch.

"Where are you pushing me to?" I demanded as he stopped at my couch before he lifted me off my hoverchair in a bridal carry before setting me down onto the sofa.

"Your couch. You're injured and you should really be resting, Miranda. Besides, I do give medical benefits for my subordinates. Do your feet and ankle still hurt?" Russell asked with a surprisingly compassionate tone that I'd never heard before, setting me down onto my sofa as I nodded and smiled at his lame joke.

"Yes, it still does. I don't need to rest Shepard; my genetic tail-enhancements make sure that I can get away with less rest than any other human being." I quickly caught myself as he looked up quizzically.

"Wait, you were saying something about your genetics being tailored?"

"That's quite enough for now. You still haven't finished telling me about your family." I retorted, quickly changing the subject as Russell seemed to want to reply, but he eventually dropped it after a couple of seconds.

"Ok, but you have to start calling me Russell from now on if you want me to drop the subject. So anyways, you probably already know that I was raised as a spacer kid, following my parents around from ship to ship, starting out with the SSV Emden which my father was the skipper of, and then we moved to the Kilimanjaro where he took command while my mother was the second navigation officer when I was about 12. After about half a decade on the Kilimanjaro, I enlisted in the Marines and then went on to complete the N7 program. It was kind of boring on the Emden; there wasn't really that much for a seven year old kid like me to do aboard the ship. But when I got to the Kilimanjaro-oh that was just gold. So much fun, what with the XO's insanely hot daughter." The Commander chuckled as I rolled my eyes.

"So I assume you had sex with her within a month?" I raised an eyebrow as Russell unsheathed his combat knife and began cutting away at my leg cast until it fell onto the floor, letting cool air caress my damp skin for once in slightly over a week.

"Oh no, no. We did lose our virginities to each other when we were both 16, but that girl was one hell of a tease the whole time. My mother was horrified that I had sex with her, my dad congratulated me in private, and her father threatened to kill me. Her mom was a civvy, so I have no idea what her reaction was." Russell guffawed as he began to press at my injured left foot and ankle, earning a sharp hiss from me.

"Shep-Russell, it hurts. What on earth are you doing?" I said through gritted teeth as he looked back up at me.

"I'm massaging your feet and ankle for you Miranda. Chakwas can replace the cast later, don't sweat it. It hurts here?"

I nodded and winced as he began to massage my left foot before moving up to my healing ankle and began to massage it gently yet firmly as I winced before I sighed softly, the dull, aching pain finally alleviating. He continued for about five minutes in silence, and then switched to my other foot before I broke the silence.

"So what hobbies do you have Russell? I never really found out; it wasn't on any dossier. I already know you're a hardcore gamer, but what else do you do?" I probed as he continued massaging the balls of my right foot.

"Besides gaming, I enjoy reading the old classics like Patrick Robinson, Dale Brown, Andy McNab, Plato, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare. Also, I enjoy the old music from the 20th and 21st century a lot more than today's music, and I even play a little guitar and piano sometimes. Old classical music like Bach, Beethoven, Nielsen, and Sergey Stepanov appeal to me." He listed as he stood up and sat beside me, his arms resting upon the back of my sofa, and his left arm was right next to the back of my neck.

"Oh, you like Nielsen and play the piano hmm? Never thought of you as a person with any form of class whatsoever." I ribbed him as he turned to me with narrowed eyes.

"That's not fair."

"Too bad. Who's Sergey Stepanov?" I asked as he stared at me.

"You've never heard of him? Are you serious, Miss Miranda Lawson?"

"Yes I am completely serious Commander Russell Patrick Shepard. Am I supposed to know him?"

"You should. He's more commonly known as EpicSaxGuy. Here's his crowning performance." Russell brought up a SpaceTube video of a blonde man playing the saxophone to a very, _very_ entrancing tune, but I noticed that he kept playing the same notes repeatedly, and then I looked at the time bar at the bottom of the video.

"Bloody hell Russell! He played the same thing over and over again for _ten godforsaken hours_?" I spluttered in shock as Russell burst into laughter.

"No way! It's a loop. Actually, it's the _most epic loop ever_!" He laughed as he continued playing the song until I stopped it with an irritated expression.

"Seriously Russell? It's annoying, and it could actually be used as a form of torture." I glared at him as he just gave a disbelieving expression.

"No it can't. Anyways, it's bedtime for you now Miranda. Don't worry about the cast; I'll get Chakwas in here to replace it while you're sleeping." He said as he carried me bridal style to my bed before setting me down gently.

"I'm not a child Russell. Also, this whole thing with you carrying me around like a baby has got to stop." I glowered at him as he tucked me in with an amused grin.

"Of course you're not a child Miranda. Nobody ever said that you were. But you should start looking after a lot better, given that you always keep skipping meals and sacrificing sleep just so you can keep this ship running."

"Well, if you want me to get three square meals a day and get at least eight hours of sleep every day, then please start writing your bloody after action reports and start being useful to the running of this ship." I snarked.

"Touché. Alright, you win. Goodnight Miranda." He hummed as he leaned in and kissed my forehead.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, you pervert!" I yelled as I bolted upright, my forehead colliding with his nose as I did so.

"Oh Jesus my nose!" Russell yelped as he clutched at his nose.

"You were taking advantage of me this whole time weren't you, you despicable, slimy scumbag-"

"Hey wait! I never take advantage of a woman! That kiss was completely friendly!"

"You liar! Get out of here, _now_!" I hissed, calling upon my biotics as I threatened him.

"Alright Miranda. Jesus, you're really touchy. Oh and by the way, your hair smells great!" He called back as he walked out of my room, and I threw a datapad at him and infused it with the strength of my biotics.

I laughed for the first time in years when I heard his girlish yelp when the datapad connected to the back of his head at high velocity, knocking him to the ground just as the doors to my office closed. "Oh, revenge is so, _so _sweet." I giggled in satisfaction as I settled in and soon fell asleep.

**A/N: Finally got this chapter done and in doing so, I completed one of my pre-New Year's resolutions! Yay! Of course, review this chapter because it wasn't easy to drag myself away from TF2 and Skyrim…and also because I'm a really big slut for reviews. ;) This is Katherine wishing everyone a great 2012! Cya soon!**

**XOXOKatherineXOXO**


	6. Confessions

**Author's Notes: I'm baaaaackk! And I'm back with another chapter of Moments of Love. Yes, I know three months without a new chapter has all of you so pissed off, but Chuck ended, I found out that Miranda would be shafted in ME3 for that damn quarian, and ME3 demo came out (I don't fucking know what my emotions are doing!) Alright, time to get to the fic! Internet cookiez go to whoever is the first to spot the Team Fortress 2 ripoffs! And as always, please leave lots of reviews and hugs! ;)**

I was hobbling down to the shuttle bay on crutches, practically seething at my CO, Commander Russell Shepard for making the decision he did down on Lorek. Due to my ankle injury which was preventing me from going back into the field for another two weeks (my ankle was already healed given that it had already been two weeks since that bloody krogan decided to stomp on my ankle while I saved Russell, but Dr. Chakwas staunchly refused to let me return to active duty for another fortnight), I was stuck onboard the Normandy overseeing the mission. The insertion was flawless and Shepard, Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi had infiltrated the Eclipse base stealthily and swiftly, flawlessly eliminating unaware Eclipse mercs with their knives, and Kasumi even cloaked up before reappearing behind hapless mercs to backstab them with her kunai.

It would've been absolutely perfect if Russell hadn't decided to stop for some tea in the break room, and unwittingly walked in on at least a quarter of the mercs just idling around inside the break room. All hell (and gunfire) broke loose, and soon the entire base was onto them and getting to the cell where Rawlings was held was a messy, gunfire filled affair. While getting there, Russell happened to kill off a salarian who was one of Eclipse's higher-ranked lieutenants when said salarian was distracted by Kasumi backstabbing a female engineer right next to him.

However, this fiasco was nothing compared to what got me so pissed off at Russell in the first place. Once all the mercs were eliminated and the foursome entered the cell to discover that Rawlings was long dead, Russell grabbed all of the operative's data and sent it off to Cerberus. While sending it to _the bloody Alliance _as well and he also sent a copy to EDI, who had just PM'ed me with a message informing me that the data was so heavily encrypted it would take a year for EDI to crack. That had sent me over the edge as I had already warned him not to send anything to the Alliance, as they would falsify the entire thing and mount a smear campaign against Cerberus just so they could look better in front of the damn Council.

Russell just said "Miranda, sometimes a little strife is fun. Also, I'm quite interested in seeing who the Cerberus moles in the Alliance are." Right before he fired off the data to Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence, leaving me spluttering in complete rage at the way he simply _ignored_ me.

Thus, I was practically seeing red as I hobbled into the shuttle bay as soon as the lift doors opened and stood there waiting for the shuttle to land, ignoring Crewwoman Patel's curious gaze as I formed a rant in my head. Five minutes later, the shuttle docked and Zaeed, Jacob, Kasumi and Russell hopped off chattering away. "Commander!" I yelled as the other three patted Shepard on the back with knowing grins before leaving.

"Yes Miranda?" Russell asked as he walked over to me.

"What the bloody hell do you think you were doing down there? First, you alert every damn merc in that base to your position just because you craved a cup of _chamomile tea_, and after that, you send _highly classified _information about Cerberus' activities to the _Alliance_, which will more likely than not _falsify half_ the data in there in a political kiss-arse move for the Council!" I ranted at him with my teeth bared.

"Oh come on Miranda, you don't really care about those two things, you're just pissed I ignored you right?"

"Yes I am pissed you ignored me, but the main reasons for me wanting to just kick your arse across this room are the two I mentioned!"

"Oh Miranda, Miranda. You just admire my ass, don't-" And with that, I lost it and struck my _arsehole_ CO with what was quite possibly the hardest uppercut I've ever managed. My fist connected to his jaw with a near-orgasmic crack that caused me to inadvertently break out into a satisfied smile as he slumped against a nearby crate, groaning. There were a chorus of pained gasps from Jacob, Kasumi and a few crew who were around the shuttle and Zaeed actually burst out into raucous guffaws upon seeing me deck the great Commander Russell Patrick Shepard.

I then hobbled over to Russell as he sat up against the crate he'd crashed into as he nursed his jaw, which probably wasn't broken thanks to the enhanced bone weave tech I insisted we implant all of his bones with during Lazarus. "Don't ever shut me out like that again _sir_. Also, I'm generally against sexual harassment and don't take kindly to it either." I growled at him, jabbing my crutch into his chest lightly before heading to the lift, allowing a sadistically satisfied smirk to cross my face as I glared down Zaeed, who just raised his hands with an amused expression.

I headed back to my office and began to work on the after action report of Shepard's little skirmish which I would send to the Illusive Man in a few hours and idly wondered just how ticked off my boss would be at Shepard sending Rawlings' data to the Alliance, of all people. Or maybe he'd just dismiss it with a snort of laughter and find it ironic that Cerberus' former top funder-cum-supporter was now desperately trying to take us down in an attempt to arse-kiss the Council of morons.

I eventually came to the part where their covers were blown and they had to go weapons free, and I was racking my brain for a way to write up the report on how not to make Shepard look like a total bloody nitwit for alerting the whole base just because of his bloody tea addiction when Mordin IM'd me, requesting my presence in his lab at my earliest convenience. Since I was stuck on the report with nothing to do and my coffee mug empty, I decided to head up to the lab straight away.

When I entered the lab, Mordin was busy placing a clear blue liquid into a large syringe that reminded me of the syringes that the doctors jammed into me during the procedures to make me a biotic as I cried when I was ten. "Ah Operative Lawson. Good to see you so soon." Mordin said in his rather amusing rapid fire chatter as I took the seat he offered.

"Hello Professor Solus. Is everything in this lab set up adequately for you?" I asked as he finished filling up the syringe before turning to me and nodding.

"Yes indeed. I find this lab to be most well supplied. Could easily be one of the best labs I have worked in so far. Cerberus is surprisingly well funded. Called you up not to talk about status of lab, but to talk about bone strengthening enhancements."

"Bone strengthening enhancements? I assume they're for Moreau?" I asked as he shook his head.

"No, not for our pilot. It's for the strike team. Have already optimized the enhancements for human members and myself, and will need a little more time to optimize it for Officer Vakarian." The professor replied, catching my confused look as he continued.

"These enhancements consist of a series of 3 injections," he said, holding up one of the syringes ", and an application of these grafts. Very fast and easy to apply. Only requires day surgery to implant in body. No need for downtime." He said as he held up a flexible piece of metallic graft.

"Oh. I thought that bone enhancements needed to be implanted at birth to have any effect on the individual." I replied, intrigued as Mordin just smiled.

"Ah yes, that was the old method. Have finally discovered that lack of calcium absorption is why mid-life implantations have no effect."

"So I'm guessing that the liquid in those syringes are going to either alter the calcium absorption rate of our bodies, or it's going to provide the calcium necessary for the implants to take effect." I mused as Mordin just cut in with a satisfied "Both."

"And how much more pressure can be applied to our bones before they snap?" I asked him as he tapped a couple of buttons on his terminal to pull up his data recordings.

"With this implant, bones should be able to withstand approximately thirty percent more pressure. Miss Lawson, if you may." Mordin babbled, holding out the ten by ten cm graft towards me as he prepped the syringe.

"If I may..?" I asked in confusion as he extended his hand, silently requesting for me to roll up my sleeve and extend my arm.

I did just that and Mordin swiftly jabbed the syringe into my arm and pumped its contents in before regarding me again. "Follow me to the medbay. Will demonstrate to Doctor Chakwas how to implant this enhancement."

I followed Mordin down to the medbay, and guess who I spotted drinking tea in the mess hall while chatting with Garrus, who still had his neck in a supporting brace? That's right; Commander Russell Shepard was there sipping tea from his mug while Garrus was gingerly sipping at his glass of water. The best part was that Russell had the nerve to wink and wave at me.

Fighting down the urge to give him both middle fingers, I just ignored him and continued into the medbay where Mordin was chatting away intently with Chakwas. When he was done, Chakwas stood up and motioned for me to lie down on one of the beds before she pulled up a chair and sat down.

"So, Commander Shepard just came in to get his jaw checked out and I must say that you have one hell of a right uppercut Miss Lawson. You severely bruised his jaw, and came very close to breaking it. He's going to have some pain when he's eating or talking for the next few days." Chakwas said with an amused smile.

"Well, he deserved it. I don't react well to sexual harassment." I replied stiffly as Mordin came over with a breathing mask.

"Okay Operative Lawson, I am going to anesthetize you in order to insert this graft. Ready?"

"How long am I going to be unconscious?" I asked?

"About four hours Miss Lawson." Chakwas replied as I nodded.

"I'm ready. Do it." I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes as Mordin secured the mask to my face and nothingness overtook me.

Four hours later, I awoke to a dull pain in my left femur and I groaned uncomfortably.

"Ah good to see you're awake again Operative Lawson. How do you feel?" Mordin asked as Chakwas was busy running diagnostics on a laptop next to me.

"Tired, hungry, thirsty and a little bit of pain on my left femur." I replied groggily as Chakwas turned to Mordin.

"Looks good professor. The bone strengthening enhancements have taken effect, and they are working as projected." Chakwas informed the salarian as she passed me a glass of water, which I downed eagerly.

"Excellent. Operative Lawson, thank you for letting me perform the procedure on you." Professor Solus thanked me as I smiled back and nodded.

"Thank you for creating this breakthrough in medical science Professor. Anyways, how did you manage to create this in just slightly over a week?"

"Salarians all require only two hours of sleep every day. Also, was already working on this for approximately two weeks and five days in my Omega clinic before recruitment."

"I see…well, are you in a rush to do anything else at the moment Professor?" I asked as he mulled it over.

"No. Is there something you would like to know?" I asked in return as Chakwas took her leave.

"Nothing in particular…I was just hoping to discuss some medical matters." I clarified as Mordin nodded, a spark of excitement lighting up in his eyes.

"Yes, indeed. Have quite a few hours to spare. Would like nothing more than to chat with you about medical matters." Mordin chattered excitedly as I smiled, eager to engage in intelligent conversation with someone with an intellect superior to mine.

We spent the next two hours discussing genetic science, the intricacies of biomolecular science and many other things that I hadn't had much of an opportunity to discuss with others for the past few years. Mordin was particularly intrigued by how I managed to bring Shepard back to life, and a sizeable portion of our discussion revolved around said topic.

Finally I decided to leave but before I did, I had one more question that needed to be answered. "Professor, will the bone enhancements allow me to return to action within three days?"

"No, it does not accelerate healing. However, you can return to active duty within three days. Your fracture is healing faster than expected. Fascinating."

"I received gene mods to accelerate my healing rate at a young age. If that is all, thank you Professor." I bade him goodbye as I unflinchingly threw him the half-lie I'd been giving out to everyone for all the thirty five years of my life.

He just absentmindedly waved at me as the doors closed and I hobbled up to the helm to check in with our pilot, Jeffery Moreau and to make sure he wasn't slacking off. However, when I reached the cockpit, I saw him discreetly masturbating as he watched some disgusting asari/hanar rape porn as I approached and I swiftly rapped the back of his chair with my walking stick, getting his panicked attention as I desperately averted my eyes from that sickening porno.

"Oh shit! Um…XO Lawson! I…uh…well this isn't what it looks like!" He blabbered out in a panic.

"It is, actually. Turn it off and get back to work!"I snapped at him, but as I did, my eyes accidentally fell upon the screen just in time to see the asari pornstar get anally penetrated as she squealed loudly. It was just like watching two ships collide; you knew you shouldn't watch, but you just couldn't take your eyes off the unfolding scene.

I must've been quite the sight, standing there with my eyes wide, mouth wide open as I stared at the asari getting triple penetrated. As soon as my brain reestablished control, I quickly turned around and got the hell out of the cockpit, desperately wanting to unsee what I had just seen.

The next three days en route to Korlus were lost in a flurry of paperwork, requisition orders and sheer monotony. Even listening to Nielsen and other music while filling out the bloody paperwork didn't help to lessen the incredible monotony any less, and the three day journey seemed to take ages.

Finally we were orbiting around Korlus, and I saved one of my twenty six requisition orders just as Russell walked into my office with his annoying boyish smile. "Hey Miranda, how're you doing?" He asked as I regarded him coolly.

"I'm fine. I'll be joining your squad to recruit Okeer, so please leave my room so I can suit up."

"Nope. I'm taking Garrus, Jacob, Zaeed and Kasumi down for this one. You aren't medically cleared by Chakwas for this mission, so I would like for you to be mission control up in the CIC. It looks like a clusterfuck down there, so I need someone on the ship to direct us." He said as he took a seat and offered me a mug of the tea he brought in with him.

I grudgingly accepted it from him and noted that it was a very good chamomile tea, and it was just sweet enough. "I'm fit for duty commander, I've already been out for more than two weeks and-"

He just waved away my protests and sipped at his tea before continuing. "Miranda, Dr. Chakwas knows best. Besides, I do need a very good mission coordinator, and you just so happen to fill that criteria. If you're feeling particularly restless, you could always head down to the firing range to pop a few rounds."

"Alright then Shepard. I'll be the mission overseer, but only this once." I sighed as he smiled and got up to leave.

"Thank you Miranda. And by the way, I'm sorry for being a complete prick to you the other day." Russell said over his shoulder as he left, leaving me utterly surprised at his apology. He actually knew when and how to apologize. Well, fuck me.

I then headed up to the CIC Deck, passing by Kelly Chambers who flashed me an impossibly chirpy smile as I acknowledged her greeting with a quick nod of my head as I made way to the cockpit, hoping not to see Moreau watching his degrading rape pornos.

Fortunately, Moreau wasn't dicking around or jerking off, and I took my seat in the copilot/ground controller's seat and logged into the console. "So sup Mira-Miss Lawson?" He asked nonchalantly when I took my seat.

"Nothing is up, Mr. Moreau. I suggest you focus on your piloting and making sure the ship stays up." I replied tersely as he sighed melodramatically.

"Yes ma'am. Looks like a long boring flight for little ole me." Moreau muttered under his breath as he refocused his attention on his piloting while I patched into the visor-cams of Shepard, Jacob Zaeed, Kasumi, and Garrus. They had just boarded the shuttle and were now lifting off from the cargo bay.

After five minutes of banter and laughter amongst the ground team, they entered the atmosphere of Korlus and began their final descent to the Blue Suns base where Cerberus intelligence had placed Okeer in. The Blue Suns base was essentially a series of rusting, decommissioned starships thrown into a junkyard retrofitted to suit their needs. A series of monotone beeps came on over my headset, indicating that the mercs' missile and AA systems had detected and were locking onto the shuttle.

"EDI, take care of those defenses. Hall, neutralize those defenses." I ordered as both EDI and the Cerberus gunnery officer seated behind me to the right of the cockpit replied in the affirmative.

"Roger that Operative Lawson. Shot out, shot out." The black officer behind me reported in his baritone voice as he fired the JAVELIN cannon, and my tacmap showed direct hits on a cluster of SAMs and an AA gun.

"Nice shot. Do you see the emplacement three degrees northwest to your position?"

"Uh…yeah I see it." Hall replied as he strained a little to spot the AA nest I was referring to.

"Good. Engage and destroy it."

"Shot out, shot out-whoa, they just fired upon the shuttle!"

Over my headset, I could hear Hawthorne reporting his deployment of countermeasures to divert the missiles with a measure of panic in his voice. The missiles were easily fooled by the top-of-the-line countermeasures installed upon the shuttle and they veered wildly off course as Hall destroyed the nest with the two shots he had fired previously. "Area is free of AA, proceed to drop zone and continue with the mission, over." I informed the ground team as they landed.

"Copy that Miranda. Moving out now. Kasumi, you scout up ahead and Zaeed, you're on point." Russell reported as the team disembarked the shuttle and advanced with Zaeed wordlessly taking point while Kasumi cloaked and snuck ahead of the team to scout out the area, and the team was busy commenting upon the obnoxious merc, who was supposedly the leader, who was broadcasting threats and orders over a PA system.

"Watch yourselves team, we've got sporadic firefights between krogans and Blue Suns all over the place." I advised them as I saw the tacmap displaying several firefights between krogan and Blue Suns mercs all over the repurposed merc base.

"Wait a minute, wasn't Okeer working for the Blue Suns? Why are the krogan fighting them?" Jacob asked as they patrolled ahead.

"I'm as clueless as you Jacob. Just stay sharp and stay alive team." I replied as I watched them advance up upon a guard post and eliminate all five Blue Suns and wound the last one before proceeding to interrogate him.

The merc couldn't be any older than nineteen, the same age as Oriana. This was probably the first time he'd ever seen action, which could explain why he thought he was going to die from his minor wound. "Doesn't look that bad actually." I commented when I saw the wound he was tending to on Shepard's visor cam.

"He doesn't need to know that." Shepard replied before interrogating him and pressuring the kid to mislead the mercs who'd radioed him for a location report on the krogan.

The mission proceeded very smoothly with Vakarian sniping down mercs, Zaeed and Jacob firing at them with their X76 machineguns, Russell shooting and occasionally using his biotics on mercs, and Kasumi decloaking behind enemies to backstab them with her kunai when she wasn't shooting at them with her Locust submachine gun. When they entered the improvised structure that was supposedly Okeer's lab, Russell ran into an asari scientist named Rana Thanoptis. Apparently, he knew her from Virmire and he spared her life. After asking her a few questions, Russell let her go and she ran for her life.

Hardly surprising considering the fact that the last time she was spared by Commander Russell Patrick Shepard, she had to outrun a nuclear warhead.

Finally, they found Okeer in his lab with a lone tank bearing a huge krogan. Even by krogan standards, the naked krogan lying dormant in the gestation pod was huge. Just as Russell persuaded Okeer to join our team with his 'perfect' krogan, someone redirected the toxic gas vents to vent into the lab. "Dammit! EDI, hack into their mainframe and redirect those vents!" I cursed as EDI replied.

"Yes Operative Lawson. However, it will take me a few minutes to gain full access-"

"Just do it EDI!"

"I have already started hacking into the mainframe Operative Lawson."

I watched helplessly as Shepard and his squad rushed down to deal with Jedore, who was the in-charge for the Blue Suns base the ground team had just torn apart, and her krogan which she was releasing from more gestation pods on the lower level. "Watch out Shepard! You have a YMIR mech powering up near your location!"I warned them as Shepard warped a charging krogan as Jacob and Zaeed laid waste to it.

"Got it! Kasumi, cloak up and plant some explosives on it! Garrus hit it with your overload!" Russell ordered as he began to fire at Jedore, whittling down her shields as she ducked back down for cover as both Kasumi and Vakarian complied.

Kasumi managed to plant the explosives on the YMIR and detonate it, but it merely made a hole in its armor while its shielding remained intact. Russell then instructed Zaeed and Jacob to deal with the krogan that were being released in hordes from their gestation pods while Garrus harassed Jedore with his sniper rifle, and Russell and Kasumi took on the YMIR.

Kasumi hit the mech with an overload pulse, weakening its shields as Russell began firing his Arc Projector at it, stunning it and dropping its shields as Kasumi dashed forward to plant two more blocks of explosive onto its back before running away and detonating them, destroying the mech.

"Good job! Jacob, on me! We'll flank this bitch and Garrus, you cover us. Zaeed and Kasumi, you two mop up!" Russell yelled as Jacob yelled 'Affirmative!' back loudly, both men sprinting for the left platform as Jedore fired her rocket launcher at them but missing as Garrus forced her to duck back down when the rounds from his Incisor depleted her shields.

I switched to the camera in the lab and I saw Okeer hanging off the edge of the computer terminal he was working on, refusing to let go as he said something that couldn't be picked up by the camera's mic before he slumped to the ground, finally overwhelmed by the noxious toxic gases that Jedore had pumped into the lab.

At this same time, Zaeed and Kasumi were finishing off the last two krogan while Shepard, Jacob and Garrus were firing at Jedore. A quick overload pulse from Jacob finished off Jedore's shields just as a three-round burst from Garrus' Incisor and a quick burst from Russell's Collector Assault Rifle blew into the narcissistic merc's head, killing her instantly and she dropped like a stone.

"Team! Get back into the lab and get it ventilated, Okeer's life signs are nearly non-existent!" I barked at them over the net as they rushed up to the lab, shooting out all of the windows and cracking open both lab doors.

However, this was all in vain as Okeer's life signs faded into a dull, monotone beep and he died. "Dammit, Okeer's dead." I cursed, taking off my headset and setting it back into the compartment where it was stored.

"Yeah, we were too slow. Joker, Okeer's a goner. But we need pickup for a gestation pod containing a full-size krogan. Yeah, we've got a really fucking big package." Russell sighed in regret as Joker acknowledged it solemnly, pulling the Normandy in for an extraction.

It took Shepard, Garrus, Jacob, Zaeed and half of the sixteen-strong Cerberus security force permanently stationed aboard the Normandy to move the pod and load it onto the Normandy's port cargo hold. After they secured the tank, I paged for Jacob and Shepard to proceed to the comm. room for a debrief.

Jacob got there first, and he was already seated in one of the chairs still clad in his armor when I entered the room. "Miranda." He acknowledged me as I took my seat.

"Jacob. What happened down there?"

"You saw and heard everything Miranda. We were too slow, and we didn't expect Okeer to sacrifice himself for his legacy."

"None of you expected Okeer to sacrifice himself? That's a stretch." I wondered as Jacob stiffened up.

"Miranda, we didn't know he wouldn't even take the time to bust a window or breach a door to ventilate the lab. It's just unfair-"

"Alright Jacob, I'm sorry. It wasn't any fault of any of yours; it's just that I can't believe that we failed the mission." I cut him off apologetically as I began to think about what to write for the report.

"We didn't fail…well, not entirely. We got a krogan who's supposed to be perfect, but we have no idea whatsoever about that. Shepard's gonna wake it up later."

"About that…really? We're just going to wake up a bloody krogan in the cargo hold and hope that it doesn't tear off a bulkhead?"

"Well, the mission would've been a failed, wasted one if we didn't wake it up."

"Wasted mission or not, waking up a bloody krogan we know nothing about is madness!"

"Uh-huh. Then what would you recommend then?" Jacob leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.

"Bringing the krogan for study makes perfect sense, but I have reservations about waking it." I huffed as I reached for my mug of tea to take a long swig just as the doors opened and Shepard strode in, now in his casual Cerberus uniform with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, you've said that a few times now." Jacob sighed as we both turned to face Shepard, who plopped into his chair and laced his fingers behind his head.

"A normal krogan is dangerous enough. This one was created, and likely educated by a madman." I stressed as Russell cracked a smile.

"I see everyone's all excited about the new paperweight. Don't worry; he won't get out unless one of us lets him out." Russell replied.

"Or unless Okeer installed some sort of failsafe. Or a malfunction causes the tank to shut down." I mused as the commander snorted.

"I know. It's going to be pretty fun, don't you think?" Russell smirked as Jacob shook his head and sighed.

"Krogan fight well at close quarters. Perhaps awakening him in a confined space wouldn't be so prudent." I cautioned him while rolling my eyes at his tendency to try and be funny, but fail miserably, at the worst possible times.

"Got it. The port cargo hold is safe enough until I wake him up. Dismissed." Shepard concluded as Jacob stood up, saluted and then left the room as Shepard did the same.

"Shepard, if you have nothing else at this moment in time, I'd like to have a word with you in my office." I said as he just nodded and followed me down into my office.

We entered my office and Shepard immediately took the seat in front of my desk as I sat behind it. "Shepard, you do realize that this mission was essentially a failure right?" I started.

"Yes, we failed to recruit Okeer but we managed to obtain his creation, which was created out of traded Collector tech, so I'd say that we salvaged the mission."

"We didn't Shepard. You see, that krogan is only good if we study it and the Collector tech used to create it. But waking it up…" I trailed off.

"You're not seeing it as a living being Miranda; you're only seeing it as an inanimate object. Do you really think of everyone you meet as a dead piece of resource?" Russell countered quite forcefully.

"That's blatantly incorrect Shepard, I see you, Jacob, Kasumi, Garrus, Zaeed and Mordin as people and not just resources to be used." I replied indignantly.

"Then why are you not looking at the krogan we brought aboard the same way? Is it because he was manufactured like a robot?"

"It's not that, it's just that…we lost someone we were supposed to recruit, and now we're saddled with a wildcard who nobody knows anything about. Doesn't that strike you as a mission failure Shepard?" I fired back, ignoring the twinge of pain I felt when he mentioned the krogan being manufactured like a robot. I was created in a process not dissimilar to how the krogan lying dormant in the tank in the port cargo hold was.

"It doesn't because I see an opportunity to have another man on my team. You've obviously never failed a mission in any part before, have you, Miranda?"

"I haven't failed any mission I was assigned, and I don't intend to start now."

"Well aren't you Miss Perfect then. Let me tell you this: We failed in one objective; but we've accomplished the mission. It happens all the time." He retorted as we both fell into an angry silence before I spoke up.

"Alright then, just let me know when you're going to wake the krogan up. Now tell me, what are you hiding from?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't act stupid, Shepard. I saw your dossiers, and there was a strange seventeen month gap between Elysium and your next deployment, which happened to be a very minor anti-piracy operation aboard the SSV Emden, in which you saw action only twice in six months. And after Elysium, you were only granted six months of official leave. Also, don't think I don't notice you sitting in the mess almost every night which you face buried in your hands for hours, or just sitting there with the 'thousand yard stare'. What transpired between those seventeen months Shepard?" I questioned him.

"And why would you want to know?" Russell asked as he stood up, his tone dropping to a dangerous one as the temperature in my office dropped a few degrees.

"I want to know who exactly I'm serving under Shepard. I know very little about you, and going by your behavior, I could very well be under the command of a mentally unstable officer." I replied, before gasping in shock when Russell's expression turned from barely calm to enraged and he grabbed my choker and pulled me over my desk like I was a ragdoll before slamming my back against the wall, my stiletto boots hanging a few centimeters off the ground given that Russell was taller than me by slightly more than half a head.

"You really think I'm crazy, don't you? Just like the rest of them. Let me tell you this, _Lawson_," Russell growled as he smacked me back against the wall, his face right in mine as I struggled vainly against his grip. "I am not insane. Just because I lost people I cared for does not make me insane. Just because I lost damn near my entire company charging entrenched batarian defenses and armor doesn't mean I'm a heartless bastard suffering from PTSD." He snarled in my face before he abruptly deflated and gently let me down.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know what happened. I shouldn't have manhandled you like that." He apologized, his expression worn and weary as he slumped back into his chair.

"What was that Shepard? When did you lose an entire company?" I cleared my throat, trying to hide the shaking of my hands as I sorted my uniform out while returning to my seat.

"I'll tell you if you tell me more about yourself. You okay with that?"

"Alright then Shepard. Tell me then, what exactly are you hiding?"

"I was actually at Torfan when that infamous invasion occurred. I was the supposedly dead 'Butcher of Torfan, but of course, the Alliance couldn't have the Hero of Elysium being a crazy bastard who sacrificed more than three-quarters of his company just to make the breakthrough that sent the batarians running, and most of all, he can't be the war criminal who brutally slaughtered two dozen surrendering batarians by putting rounds in their heads, and burned twenty of them alive." Russell snorted bitterly.

"Then how come the records don't put you there? And what about the surviving marines?" I asked as Shepard rubbed his face with his hands, looking ten years older than he really was.

"They expunged the records upon Hackett's orders. A few of the survivors like Major Kyle suffered from PTSD and were immediately locked away in Alliance mental asylums, while the survivors who came out of it normal were told to keep quiet, and they were paid off and promoted very well. I got orders to take leave while they investigated me for three months before I returned to action aboard the Emden."

"From what I understand, your division, let alone your company, wasn't called upon to serve on Torfan. Why were you there Shep-Russell?" I asked him gently, eyeing him with compassion as I finally realized that his jovial arsehole demeanor was a façade designed to keep everyone away from his real issues, just like the walls I had cocooned myself in over the years.

"I volunteered to take on that mission. I saw what those fuckers did on Elysium, and I wanted to pay them back for all the women they raped and killed, or raped and enslaved, and the children they killed or took into slavery. Also, I executed a few surrendering batarians on Elysium, but that was conveniently overlooked." Russell sighed as he finally looked up at me.

"I see…so you volunteered for Torfan to execute some form of justice for the victims of Elysium. That's…quite noble of you Russell. You did what you did and now you carry the fallout from it because you felt injustice for the victims. Not many men would've stood for what they felt and believed in Russell. That's why you're so special." I replied as he finally cracked one of his boyish, albeit pained, smiles.

"Thank you Miranda. Are you hitting on me?" He smirked.

"Oh God no. You? Oh please, my standards for a lover are a lot higher than you can ever hope to obtain Russell." I snorted in derision, feeling a faint blush creeping across my cheeks. Oh God, what is happening to me?

"You're such a lousy liar Miranda. You're blushing as you deny it. But getting back on point, I told you about myself and the secrets I've kept all these years, it's time to tell me about yourself."

"Alright then Shepard, I suppose it's only fair that you get to know the truth about me after all that you've revealed to me about yourself. You might want to get comfortable though; it's going to be quite a long chat." I replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh whatever you're going to tell me will never be as long as my mom's nagging. I'm good." Russell joked, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers behind his head as I laughed softly.

"Alright then Shepard. You remember how I told you that I was genetically modified? Well, that's not exactly true. I was genetically engineered to be everything that I am from the ground up." I began as Russell's expression belied how stunned he was.

**A/N: Yay finally done! So…review now pleez?**

**XOXOKatherineXOXO**


	7. Buying Loyalty

**Author's Notes: Hello there my fellow obsessed readers! It's chapter seven of Moments of Love, and I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far! And for the loyal readers who've subbed to this story, I love you guys so hard for sticking with me through all my crap and procrastination! :P Alrighty then, time for the story!**

"Alright Miranda…you ready?" Commander Russell Patrick Shepard asked as he brought up the holographic interface to release the krogan from its tank.

"I'm ready when you are Shepard." I replied, my hand on my hip where my Locust was holstered as Russell woke the krogan up after ignoring EDI's warnings.

Finally, the krogan woke up as it fell to its knees, coughing and spluttering out the viscous, nutrient rich fluid that it was submerged in the tank with. When it regained its breath, it stood up and eyed both Shepard and I before charging Shepard and ramming him into a stack of crates, pinning him there with its massive krogan mass as I fired up my biotics and aimed my SMG at the krogan, who seemed to be completely oblivious to me.

"Human. Male. Before you die, I need a name." The male krogan growled as Shepard just maintained his serene expression, signaling to me not to do anything at the moment.

"I'm Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy, and I don't like people who pin me up against crates."

"Not your name, mine. I am trained, I know things, but the tank…Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow. Warlord…legacy…grunt…grunt. Grunt was among the last. It has no meaning…it'll do." The tank-bred krogan mulled.

"I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me." Grunt continued in his low growl.

"Why do you want me to try and kill you. I definitely can, but…why?" Shepard returned as Grunt looked momentarily stunned at this question.

"Want? I do what I'm meant to-fight and reveal the strongest. Nothing in the tank ever asked what I want. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. That imprint failed, he has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you." Grunt replied after a moment's thought.

" Well, my current enemy threatens galaxies, and I command the best, most powerful crew and ship to stop them. It would be quite dumb to miss out on the massive war we're bringing to them." Russell replied as I moved in and roughly jammed the barrel of my SMG into the back of Grunt's head.

"He's right, Grunt. The crew he commands is one of the best in this galaxy, and I'm his second in command. I'd advise you to let Shepard down now." I breathed threateningly to the krogan as he dropped Shepard, who landed on his feet rubbing at his chafed neck, and he turned to face me.

"Hmm. Human female. Soft, weak and squishy. And your body is extra squishy. I don't see how a weakling like you could be second in command." Grunt snorted as he tried to grab me, but before he did, I wrapped him in my biotic field and slammed him into the bulkhead at the opposite end of the port cargo hold with just half of the power I used. He made a sizeable dent in the bulkhead with a loud 'klaang' sound when his head made contact with the wall, and when he stood up, I could see that he was bleeding slightly.

Serves that dumb krogan right for insulting me and calling me a weakling.

"Ha! Your body hides so much power. You are powerful indeed, woman."

"Lawson. Not woman."

"Now let's see how strong you-" Grunt growled as he advanced upon Shepard, but he just smirked and enveloped Grunt in a biotic field of his own as he tossed Grunt behind us before tossing him right into the wall I just threw Grunt into with more force than I did while looking nonchalant the whole time.

"Ha ha! You are certainly worthy of your command Shepard. Nothing in the tanks indicated that you humans were so powerful, Shepard and Lawson. This is good. I'll fight for you." The krogan rumbled as he sorted himself out as Russell smirked.

"Glad you saw reason via pain. Oh and when you had me pinned against the crates, I had this pointed at your midsection." The commander informed him, showing his Phalanx off as I finally noticed the gun in Shepard's hand.

"Ha! Smart! Offer one hand but arm the other. I'm starting to like you Shepard. If I find a clan…if I find what I…want, I will be honored to pit them against you two." Grunt chuckled as we left, holstering our weapons as we left the hold to find a smirking Zaeed leaning against the bulkhead just outside the hold, slow clapping as Engineer Gabriella Daniels and Engineer Ken Donnelly were crouched behind him, nervously aiming their pistols at the doorway.

"Not bad at all you two. Not bad at all. Never seen someone talk down a krogan with no guns and that little application of biotics. Count this old man impressed." Zaeed guffawed as Russell smirked.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the show old man. Now go make yourself useful." The commander ribbed Zaeed as they shoved each other without any malice and big grins on their faces as Zaeed got into the lift.

"Ah Commander Shepard, many thanks for the FBA couplings! It really lifted a load off us. Would you like to-ah, gotta get back to work." Donnelly said in his heavy Scottish accent as Shepard and I turned to regard him.

"You're welcome Kenny. Anything to help my crew. By the way, you wanted to ask me something?" Russell replied as Kenneth paused uncomfortably.

"What couplings? Why wasn't I notified about this?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as Daniels spoke up.

"Well ma'am, it was an insignificant detail and since the builders decided not to put it in, and we decided not to bother you with a requisition order for those parts." Engineer Daniels spoke up as I turned my attention to her.

"Engineer Daniels, anything that will make your work here more efficient and more comfortable is vitally important to me. The same applies to you as well Donnelly. So if you need something, don't hesitate to send me a requisition order." I chided them as they nodded.

"Anyways, what were you saying before Miranda cut in Kenneth? Don't worry, I won't get pissed or anything." Russell addressed Kenneth as he shifted uncomfortably.

"Well in that case…would you like to join us for a game of Skillian Five Commander?"

"Skillian Five? Engineer Donnelly, are you suggesting to the Commander that all of you should abandon your duties and play a card game while on shift?" I began, but was promptly interrupted by Russell shushing me.

"Skillian Five? I'm in! Gabby, Ken, go set up. Miranda and I will be playing. Don't worry guys, a little game of cards never hurt anyone." Russell grinned at the engineers as they grinned back and went down to the engineering subdeck.

"What the hell are you doing? Not only are you encouraging your subordinates to be derelict in their duty and deserting your own duty, you're dragging me into it!" I hissed at Russell.

"Oh learn to live more Miranda. Don't make it an order." The infuriating Commander just grinned at me as he dragged me down by the hand to the subdeck where the engineers had already set up the table and chairs and were now sitting down and drinking some cola.

"Alright then, let's play." Russell grinned, a devious grin on his face as Daniels began to shuffle the deck and distribute the cards.

Well, since I was here without a choice, I might as well play to win. "Don't feel the need to go easy on either me or Shepard. We're playing to win here." I smirked despite the fact that my first hand was one of the more disadvantageous ones while my mind started calculating my odds.

I was keenly aware of the time, and it was fifty two minutes later that we were nearing the end of the game. Both Donnelly and Daniels had lost badly to Russell and I, and I had lost about eight hundred and twenty credits to Russell. However, that was going to change if I drew the right card to complete my hand-

_Jackpot!_ I inwardly screamed as I drew the last card and I knew that I could not be beaten. Russell was sitting there with his stone-cast poker face as he glanced at his cards. Donnelly was at the stage of throwing in the towel while Daniels was had paled significantly and was sweating more as the match progressed.

"Bet one thousand seven hundred and fifty." Russell announced as Daniels threw down her cards and Donnelly called him on it.

"Raise you a thousand and two fifty commander." I said, keeping my stern poker face on while subtly playing with my earlobe as Russell called and everyone showed hands.

Daniels' only had a hand of high cards, Donnelly had a three of a kind in his hand, and Russell had a four of a kind. Both engineers groaned loudly in dismay as Russell leaned back in his chair while a Cheshire grin as he coolly gazed at me.

"Oh Miranda, you do realize that your tell is kind of obvious despite you being discreet with it right?"

"Actually, I fooled you. Pay up Commander." I smirked as I showed my hand.

It was a straight flush, and I had to restrain the laugh that was threatening to spill from my lips when I saw how stunned and dejected Russell looked at being conned and completely fooled by me as both engineers started snickering at Shepard's expression.

Russell dumbly activated his omnitool and transferred three thousand credits to my account, all the while his jaw was still hanging open. When the engineers started to do the same, I stopped them. "Donnelly, Daniels, I don't want your credits. Just perform at your best at all times, that's payment enough for me." I said as I got up to leave as both engineers sighed out a relieved and grateful 'Thanks ma'am' in unison.

I got into the lift, feeling extremely satisfied at having suckered my irritating CO. Revenge felt so very, _very_ good, and I sighed in satisfaction just as Russell trudged into the lift, hitting the button for the Crew Deck, not noticing that I had already selected it. I turned to him with a self-satisfied smile on my face as I turned to face him.

"So…_Commander_, how was that game of Skillian Five?" I purred as he turned to face me with tired eyes.

"Not bad Miranda, you actually played me at my own game. But I will get you Miranda, just wait." He grinned back at me as we exited the elevator.

It was the second lunch hour, and the mess was rather crowded with half the crew standing around in line with their lunch trays chatting away. Alternatively, they were seated at the tables eating while discussing their private lives. The aroma of food was positively delicious and it smelled like Gardner had cooked up some fried chicken.

"Aah…dee-licous. Wait where are you going Miranda?" Russell sighed deeply before he noticed me walking back to my office.

"To my office to file up some requisition orders. I'll eat whatever's leftover later; I'm not really hungry." I said dismissively, walking into my office and powering up my computer.

I had just finished up the first paragraph of my requisition order and was halfway through my second when Shepard waltzed into my office with two massive trays of food, which contained coleslaw, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and a huge glass of soda that looked more like a vat. He then set down the trays which looked like they contained a double-and-a-half portion instead of the regular portion right in front of me, effectively preventing me from working on the requisition order as he took a seat on the chair in front of me.

"Shepard, what-"

"I brought you lunch Miranda. Gardner claims that this fried chicken is his secret home-style recipe and you can't find it anywhere else. Also, you can consider this an act of my gratitude for you consistently working so hard. Ohh…this is so good…"Russell groaned in delight as he bit down on the chicken and chewed on it.

"Well, if you'd actually stop being so lazy and start filling out your after-action reports instead of avoiding them, thus making me file those reports by default, I wouldn't have so much work to do." I returned, picking up a piece of the fried chicken and biting into it. It tasted so good I let out an involuntary moan and a shudder when I took that bite, and I could actually hear a soft but audible crunching when I bit into it. Gardner was definitely getting a raise and whatever he wanted would be put into my requisition orders from now on.

I was interrupted from the delicious epiphany by the sounds of Russell chuckling loudly and I looked up to see him still holding onto his half-eaten piece of chicken as his entire body was shaking with mirth. "What's so funny Shepard?" I asked, a little miffed at him.

"You were moaning so loudly…and your expression made me think for a second that you were going to have an orgasm." He chortled as he took a big bite.

"Pervert. It's really delicious; I'll have to thank Gardner later. Oh, and thanks for bringing me lunch."

"You're welcome Miranda. Besides, it's a show of my appreciation for all the hard work you've put in. And about those reports…touché. Touché, Miranda. Alright then, I'll start doing those damned after-actions while you focus on other things. That should help you out a bit."

"It will help a lot, thank you very much. So, I'm assuming you didn't just bring me lunch only because you felt indebted to me." I replied as I chewed on another big bite of chicken.

"Ah, of course. I want to talk more about your past. Thought that a lunch date would be a good opportunity to learn more about my XO."

"Oh? I didn't know we were dating?" I raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to laugh while trying to hold in the forkful of coleslaw he'd just swallowed.

"What can I say Miss Lawson? I'm irresistible to the ladies and I know it."

I snorted with restrained laughter, trying my damndest not to choke on my food. After a few difficult seconds of struggling, I managed to swallow down the food before replying.

"That was a really horrible joke Commander. But in all seriousness, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I still can't believe that you were genetically engineered from the ground up. How is that even possible? But that aside, how exactly did your father abuse you? I got the feeling that he was abusive from the tone and words you used to describe him."

"It was mostly emotional abuse. He never complimented me or showed me any sign of approval no matter what I did and how hard I tried to please him. He even went as far as to call me a 'bloody disappointment' a few times, and he always had this look of contempt whenever he looked at me." I sighed, trying to push down the pent up hate, disappointment, grief and vexation I felt ever since I was a child. Damn my father! Damn him to hell! He left these scars on me that would never leave me even though I had escaped from him a long time ago.

"No kid should ever undergo that kind of emotional abuse. You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to Miranda." Russell said kindly as he leaned forward, his arms on my desk.

"It's alright Shepard, I'm fine. So, I try my best to make him happy for the first thirteen years of my life, but after that I gave up and rebelled. I didn't even bother listening to him, and that's when he started physically abusing me as well." Goddammit, why was I opening up to him so much?

"This definitely can't be easy for you, and I'm assuming that you've never told anyone about the abuse."

"You're right; I've never told anyone about this before. And before you start thinking that my 'rebelling' means that I became a thug who did drugs and slept around, I didn't. My rebelling was just simple resistance and refusal to respond to his commands, and I had a friend of my own that my father didn't approve of or explicitly recommend to me. Also, I did get a tattoo when I was sixteen after drinking too much."

"The uptight Miss Lawson getting a tattoo? Well I never! By the way, is the name you have now your real name?"

"Yes it is. I think you may have heard of my father. He's Brendan Lawson-"

"The owner and CEO of ExoGeni Corporation and the Vice-Premier of Australia. Shit." Russell cut in, obviously stunned that I was the created daughter of such a powerful man.

"Exactly. Ever since I was eleven, my father would start forcing me to go on dates with boys who were the sons of CEOs and politicians, and I remember one of my forced dates being a full decade older than I was. I was never a daughter to him; I was merely an object, a tool for him to use to gain whatever he desired."

"Well, he definitely fits the profile for an egomaniacal sociopath with a severe God complex. Big job, big responsibilities, big power, yet it can't satisfy him. For men like these, the world is not enough. I doubt the galaxy will fare any better." Russell sighed, shaking his head as he shoveled a huge forkful of macaroni into his mouth.

"You're right. He never had enough power. He was always scheming for more power and prestige. I know for a fact and have the evidence that he killed off several of his opponents, and I just know he killed off many more, but there just wasn't any proof."

"Terrible. Then why the hell would he want a daughter if he has such an overblown ego? By the way, you might want to finish up your lunch before it goes stone cold Miranda." He sighed as he sipped at his soda, and I began eating again as I continued the chat.

"Only God knows. Other than him wanting me to carry on his delusional empire, I don't see why he wanted me in the first place. Besides, isn't a son preferred for an heir?" I wondered in between bites of coleslaw.

"Males are generally the preferred sex when it comes to heirs. We'll probably never know. Anyways, I assume Cerberus and Timmy know about the whole sordid story?"

"They do."

"And they approve of your genetic enhancements and abilities?"

"Of course. Cerberus fully endorses anything that advances the cause of humanity, genetic alterations included. But unlike my father and his own selfish reasons, Cerberus and the Illusive Man believe in a greater good. They see the bigger picture...and I feel like I have a purpose here." I concluded as Russell swallowed down his massive bite of fried chicken and macaroni before he replied.

"You talk about yourself like you're just a…tool to be used. By your father, by Cerberus. It's quite obvious to me that your father ingrained this mentality into you when you were young to try and get you to perform to whatever expectations he set for you."

"Maybe. I like to know where I fit in this galaxy, and it helps me find meaning in how I was created." I mused, sipping on the mysterious asari fruit flavored soda.

"You had an existential crisis? Not surprising given how unique you are. That being said, you are who you are, Miranda. You don't need to make excuses for it." Russell smiled at me as I felt my cheeks heat up. Oh God, _no_!

"Well that's easy for you to say. We've both been engineered for greatness, Shepard. The difference is that you were great before we rebuilt you... I'm great only because of it." I replied, unable to keep the hint of bitterness that crept into my voice out.

"Your spirit and personality are what make you great. It's what makes anyone great. Besides, you achieved greatness on your own. No amount of dad's meddling can make it not yours. Genetic engineering or not, you're still one hell of an amazing woman."

"Oh. That's kind of you...I'm not sure I believe you, but thanks for saying it. Wait, are you hitting on me?" I smiled at him. Stupid Miri, _stupid_! Where's your professionalism? Where's your Ice Queen demeanor? You're just his handler Miri, nothing more! Now quit playing along to his flirting!

"Maybe I am. Wanna find out?" Russell smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

"No thank you, that's quite enough. Thank you for the lunch, but I must get back to work." I smiled back at him, my brain finally coming out of its cursed muddle and finally shutting down the utterly infuriating man seated in front of me. I then proceeded to drop my now empty tray into Russell's lap, giving him a blatantly insincere smile as I turned on my heels and went into my bathroom to wash my hands.

I could feel his shocked gaze linger on me for the few seconds that it took me to walk from my desk to the bathroom, and as soon as I turned on the faucet, I heard him chuckle to himself in disbelief before him left the room, as evidenced by the soft hissing of my door as it slid open and close. I splashed water onto my face, wondering why in hell I became an irrational, downright stupid tongue-tied schoolgirl whenever Russell was around. Goddammit Miranda, you're a professional, aloof woman who's had her fair share of lovers, men, women and asari included, not some virgin schoolgirl who's having her first crush! In addition to all that, you _hate_ the man you're taking orders from! Get it together Miranda Chloe Lawson! I raged internally, staring at my reflection in the mirror for a few seconds before I dried off and headed back to my computer to finish up my reports as I heard Shepard asking Joker for the ETA at Zorya, to which Joker responded with a bored sounding reply of three hours. I mentally made a note of the ETA as I turned on some AC/DC on my computer before going back to my reports.

The minute we stepped out of the shuttle, the massive heatwave and humidity of Zorya blasted us in full force. My armor just made the heat worse, and I wasn't even wearing a helmet. Jacob must've been positively roasting in the Cerberus Assault Armor he was wearing, and even Kasumi in her skintight light armor was starting to sweat profusely.

"Jesus Christ, this planet's an oven." Russell huffed as he shouldered his Collector Assault Rifle and proceeded forwards with Zaeed and Garrus close on his trail, the merc with his X76 out and Garrus with his Incisor out. I followed suit with Kasumi at my side as Jacob took up the rear, and we beat our way through dense foliage for a good ten minutes before we spotted a guard post, which was basically a series of metal barricades haphazardly erected in a 'front and rear' arrangement around the place and there was a long, raised platform further back.

"Okay Miranda, you'll lead the squad and take care of the mercs below, while Garrus and I will get those rockets and the sniper on the bridge before helping you guys mop up whoever's left. On my go." The Commander instructed in a low tone, holstering his rifle and swopping out to his Incisor as I simply gave him a thumbs up and pressed the butt of my Collector Assault Rifle firmly onto my shoulder while turning to Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi.

"Kasumi, you cloak, circle around their backs and do what you do best. Jacob, Zaeed, you'll both be on me as we move forward and take cover behind the barricades closest to the bridge, taking out the mercs as we go along." I ordered as I heard Zaeed chuckle.

"Hell yeah, I'd love to be on you. I'd prefer to be in you too." The old merc guffawed, causing me to glare at him in irritation and disgust while everyone else was chuckling.

"Alright…go!" Russell snapped, firing his Incisor at the sniper on the bridge, taking him down instantly with a headshot a second before Garrus' own burst cut clean through the sternum of a rocket launcher wielding merc, killing him instantly as I charged forward with Zaeed and Jacob while Kasumi was sprinting onto the mercs flank while cloaked. As I ran, I fired my rifle at a few mercs who were standing around behind the barricades, taking them down as I ran past the and towards the barricades I had pointed out earlier as both Zaeed and Jacob rushed forward with me, firing at the mercs who only had enough time to let loose a few wild, unaimed shots before they fell dead.

The mercs on the bridge were all dead, and Russell and Garrus were now sniping down any mercs that were taking cover behind the air-truck beneath the bridge. Unfortunately, we'd missed a sniper who was sitting down behind the truck, and he managed to get a shot off at Zaeed and he hit. The old merc grunted as his shields were depleted to half strength after absorbing the shot from the merc's M92 Mantis and he tumbled to the dirt.

"Zaeed!" I yelled, emptying my clip at the truck and trying to suppress the mercs as Jacob did likewise, and bursts from Garrus and Russell were only able to take out the other mercs due to the angle at which the sniper was hiding. However, Kasumi decloaked and backstabbed the sniper before spraying rounds at the remaining two mercs with her Locust SMG, killing them as well.

"I'm fine love. Buggering sniper got me good." Zaeed groused as he checked himself over and patted some of the dirt off himself just as Kasumi rejoined us.

"Alright then. Move out, stay sharp and try not to get shot." Russell said crisply as we nodded and followed him, Jacob taking point.

There were no more mercs as we headed to the refinery we were supposed to liberate as part of Zaeed's signup clause with Cerberus, and Kasumi hacked into the systems to extend the drawbridge so that we could enter the refinery. While Kasumi was extending the bridge, Zaeed signaled for her to stop the bridge extension as he listened intently to a merc comm. he'd took off a dead merc.

"Looks like fucking Vido knows we're here." Zaeed spat, utter hate in his growl as Russell turned to him.

"I assume you know this Vido guy?" The Commander asked, hefting his sniper rifle as Zaeed snorted.

"Yeah, I know him alright. We set up the Suns together. He ran the books, I led the men. Worked real well for a while until he decided to start hiring _batarians_. Cheaper labor, he said. Goddamn terrorists, I said."

"So he turned on you. How come I didn't know you started the Suns?" Russell asked as Zaeed shrugged.

"Sweetcheeks didn't tell you? Anyways, it's not common knowledge. He wiped it right out of the books. He paid five men to hold me down while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger."

Russell then turned to look at me, and I shrugged as well. "It wasn't in the dossier because we felt that it was a trivial point Commander."

"Next time, you damn well tell me _every single_ detail, nothing left out." Russell growled as I nodded, shivers running down my spine at his tone.

"Yes Commander. Noted." I replied as Zaeed signaled to Kasumi to resume extending the bridge. Once it was fully extended, Zaeed was the first across snarling "Bring it on, you son of a bitch!" as he set a brisk, careless pace to the entrance of the refinery.

Strangely enough, there were no mercs outside the south entrance to the refinery, and I assumed that Vido had pulled all of them back to his own position. Kasumi hacked the gate open, and we walked into what looked like a shuttle bay and we spotted Vido Santiago, the cofounder of the Blue Suns and Zaeed's worst enemy, standing on a catwalk above us with a dozen of his mercs standing behind him.

"Zaeed Massani. You finally tracked me down." Vido snarled, his arms crossed around his chest as we all aimed our weapons at him and his mercs.

"Vido." Zaeed growled, going for his inferno grenades strapped to the chestplate of his armor.

"Don't be stupid Zaeed. I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command. Wait nevermind. Take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again." Vido taunted as Russell spoke up over the radio.

"Miranda, Jacob, follow my lead." The Commander instructed as the both of us just nodded.

Just as Zaeed unhooked one of his grenades, Russell hurled a biotic pull field at the unshielded mercs-wait, they were unshielded all along! Jacob and I quickly followed suit, trapping all the mercs, Vido included, in our biotic pull field as we shot each of them down while they floated helplessly in midair except for Vido.

Finally, we released the leader of the Blue Suns from our biotic fields and let him drop to the floor right in front of Zaeed, who gave him a vicious kick to the face.

"Zaeed, please! It was nothing personal, it was just business, I swear!" Vido babbled, a radical one-eighty from his previously arrogant and condescending disposition just a couple of minutes ago.

"It was twenty years ago! I did you a favor-look at you!"

"Alright team, let's give Zaeed some time alone." Russell ordered us as we followed him outside, not wanting to see Zaeed's final revenge on Vido. Just as the gate closed, we heard Vido's screaming for more than a minute before a single gunshot rang out. Garrus and Jacob just looked down at the ground in disgust, Kasumi looked like she was going to throw up, I simply looked away from the gate in disgust, and Russell was simply standing there, his arms crossed over his chest with a blank expression on his face.

Finally, Zaeed came out of the shuttle bay to rejoin us, his armor covered with blood spatters and wiping his knife clean of the blood that was on it as he coolly regarded Shepard.

"Done. I owe you Shepard." Zaeed said gratefully to Shepard, who just gave a curt nod to him.

"If you're done, let's go save the workers and clear out the Blue Suns in here." The Commander instructed as he reopened the gate and we walked in behind him.

"Yeah, let's go."

There was a massive pool of blood and blood spatters on the floor where Vido had fallen, but there wasn't a body. I assumed that Zaeed had dumped it over the railings and into the wilderness just outside the refinery, but it didn't make the scene any less gory.

Liberating the refinery was a relatively mundane affair filled with gunfire as we took down the mercs, but as we neared the central loading bay where EDI had pinpointed the Blue Suns to be in, more and more mercs were simply dropping arms and surrendering to us as we moved through the refinery. When we reached the loading bay, all the mercs had already fled and taken their mechs with them as well, and we heard the massive cacophony on shuttles and gunships bearing the fleeing Suns taking off outside the bay.

"Alright people, we're done here. The refinery is liberated, and all hostiles have either been neutralized or they've fled. Good job." Russell said in a dull, robotic monotone as he headed to the loading bay outside where the Kodiak would pick us up from as the refinery workers were cheering at their liberation, some even lynching their former Blue Suns captors.

As I beheld the scene, I wondered to myself why we were even trying to save ourselves and people like this from the Reapers.

A little part of me died upon seeing living beings reducing themselves into an orgy of violence that would never end. Why were we even fighting?

**A/N: Just finished Mass Effect 3, and it was UTTER BULLSHIT. I mean, what the flying fuck was that shit. The endings were pretty much the same, and the storyline (or lack thereof)…YUCK. Fuck you Bioware. You lazy bastards. Anyways, enough of my rant at how absolutely shitty ME3 was, I love you loyal readers, and as always, don't forget to review! Now I'll go into a corner and cry my eyes out over Thane dying and Miranda getting such a petty role even though Katie Shepard romanced her.**


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